If I Could Turn Back Time updated
by XPtanjaXP
Summary: Sakura is sent back through time. Her mission: Preventing Minato to sacrifice himself during the Kyuubi attack. But this mission is more difficult than she thought and a silver haired Jonin makes it only more difficult for her to accomplish the task.


**1 **

**Turn back time?**

Konoha was a mess. In its centre, there was a big hole, which was caused by Pain a few days ago. Only a few buildings at the edge of the village survived the immense destruction. Many Shinobi had lost their lives in this fight. It was like a massacre. Now each Ninja who was in a good condition helped to rebuild their hometown. Well, each Ninja except four. Let us see what was going on in front of the rock, which showed the five Hokages' faces.

"You want to change the past?" Sakura and Naruto exclaimed.

Tsunade had ordered them and Sai to come there in order to listen to her suggestion. Of course, she knew that it must have sounded ridiculous to them, but for her it was a perfect plan to hinder Akatsuki to destroy Konoha. Therefore, she had come up with this idea to change the past.

She nodded and looked each of them in the eyes and then said calmly.

"You know that Akatsuki will try again to get you, Naruto…as long as you live they'll try…So I want to send somebody in the past, so that he or she can hinder the fourth Hokage to seal the Kyuubi up in Naruto," Tsunade explained.

"But how do you plan to send somebody through time? I mean if it was that easy, then everybody could do it," Naruto said stepping forward.

"Maybe you have already heard that the fourth Hokage had the ability to control space and time…so he was able to teleport from one place to another in no time," the Hokage explained closing her eyes leaning against the rock.

Naruto, Sakura and Sai nodded and gulped. However, they still did not know how you could manage to travel to the past. Tsunade just went on.

"What we will do, is the opposite of what the fourth had done. We will bring somebody to the same place, where we will do the ritual, but only 16 years ago, so that this person has half a year left to think about how he or she can manage to change everything."

"Fine, but how exactly can we send somebody through time?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Well, that's the point," Tsunade sighed. "Alone I won't be able to do it, but I only need another top ninja…I have already considered the Kazekage, however, I am not sure if he can handle it."

Everyone knew what the Hokage was talking about. She was not sure if he could handle it because the one-tailed was no longer sealed inside of Gaara. Therefore, he had not as much chakra as he had had before.

"I am sure he can handle it," Naruto mumbled.

"Okay, let's say, he'll help us…then there is another problem," Sakura said disastrously.

Now everyone's eyes were fixed on her. She looked at her Shishou seriously and added.

"If somebody could manage to change the past, would it influence our time?"

Tsunade's serious glance softened and a small smile appeared on her face. Naruto and Sai were curious…what her answer would be.

"You were always gifted with a sharp mind, Sakura. To answer your question…no, it wouldn't influence our time."

The three shinobi in front of her gasped.

"So what is the point in traveling to the past and change it, when it wouldn't change anything here?" Naruto asked disappointed.

"I don't understand it either…instead of sending a skilled shinobi away it would be more wisely to use him for the destruction of Akatsuki here," Sai added emotionless.

"Sai is right, Shishou," Sakura mumbled.

Tsunade shifted from her left leg on her right leg.

"Tell me, what were your worst experiences in your past?" Tsunade looked at Sai signaling him to answer.

"…The death of my brother," he answered.

Then Tsunade's glance wandered to Sakura.

"Sasuke's leave," she answered weakly.

At last, the Hokage's glance remained on Naruto.

"My childhood up until I was a part of team 7," he said matter of factly.

Tsunade sighed again and waved a hand in our direction.

"So if you had the chance to change these facts -even if you wouldn't profit any by it but your former selves- would you do it, in order to save them from the same destiny?" she asked seriously.

Naruto, Sakura and Sai looked to the ground and nodded understanding what she was talking about. A moment there was silence…nobody knew what to say. However, Naruto knew how to end this odd silence.

"Then…let me do it," he mumbled.

Tsunade understood immediately what he meant and shook her head lightly.

"No, Naruto."

"Why not? I think I have the right to go because this is about me! I am sure I can do it," he affirmed.

"I know, Naruto, but you would be influenced by your emotions because you would meet your parents who were still alive back then…and that would endanger the mission," the blond woman said.

Naruto winced quietly surprised that his true intention was discovered. He truly wanted to see his parents…he wanted to get to know them. Moreover, he wanted to rescue them.

Sakura watched Naruto knowing what he intended to do. It was a pity that he would never have the chance to meet his parents. She took her eyes off him and glanced at Tsunade.

"Who are you going to send instead?"

"First I thought of sending Kakashi once he has recovered, but," the Fifth sighed disappointed. "It seems that we need Kakashi's Chidori to complete the Jutsu."

"Why do you need his technique?" Sai asked.

"I am not allowed to tell you the details because it is a secret, forbidden jutsu, however I tell you this much: The fourth used lightening element as well for his jutsus and since he is the inventor of this jutsu," Tsunade did not finish the sentence.

"So who are you going to send then?" Naruto asked a little bit impatiently.

"We need a person who is younger than 16, so that there will be no suspicion by the Fourth because everyone who is older than 16 has already lived back then and it would really be suspicious if a person with the same name like another person would appear out of nowhere," Tsunade explained.

"Okay, okay, we got it…but WHOM?" Naruto was one of the most impatient people in the world.

"There is only one person who I trust this much, that I am 100% sure, that she will manage the impossible", the Hokage let her eyes wander from Sai to Naruto and to Sakura as she did before. Only this time her gaze remained on Sakura. "Sakura, I entrust you the future of the Konoha in the past and its villagers."

Sai's and Naruto's gaze shot to Sakura and they were as surprised as Sakura…well, Sakura was a bit more than surprised.

"Me?" she squeaked. Her voice was an octave higher now.

"But…Granny! Sakura is one of the most skilled medics here! We need her here! Let me go…if I am not here, Akatsuki will have no reason to come again!" Naruto tried to convince the Hokage.

"Believe me, Naruto…I spent the last 24 hours to think of the best solution! If you are in the past then Akatsuki will hunt you there…it is the same as here. And you are right…Sakura is one of the best medics, but I am her teacher…everything she knows…was taught by me. And since I wasn't around 16 years ago, Konoha of the past will need her more than we do now."

Of course, Tsunade did not mean to offend Sakura with her last sentence and Sakura knew it. The Fifth had a point in what she was saying, but Sakura could not believe that she was going to be the one, who has to take the burden of changing everything.

_If I could turn back time_ was her only thought, which echoed in her head.

**2**

**Wake up, Sensei!**

Nothing was like it once had been in Konoha. The situation of each citizen had changed rapidly. The houses, which were spared from the immense explosion, were used as accommodations for the villagers and for the injured shinobi…such like Kakashi Hatake.

"Do you think he will wake up soon?" Naruto asked sitting next to the Copy Ninja's futon.

"Naruto, you can ask me as often as you want to, but my answer will always be the same…I don't know," Sakura sighed.

She was kneeing next to Kakashi, too, but on the opposite side of where Naruto sat. Both of them have been watching him for hours now because they were simply worried about their Sensei. He had been unconscious since the end of his fight with Pain. When he was found, he was almost dead. His situation was critical, but he survived up until now and Sakura was sure he would wake up again; however, she did not know when.

Sakura looked up from Kakashi to Naruto and saw him gritting his teeth. She knew why he was so angry…she was furious, too. Everyone would be if they found out what had happened to a close friend or in that case to their Sensei. Now Naruto and Sakura could imagine how it must have felt for Shikamaru, Choji and Ino to lose Asuma.

"Sakura…could you try again…please", Naruto said pleadingly.

"Naruto," she sighed disappointed. "I already tried so many times."

"Please, just one more time," he suffered so much from seeing someone close to him lying in front of him half dead.

She understood him too well. For Naruto it would have been unbearable to lose someone of his best friends. After such a long time living in isolation, he found people who respected and accepted him and then he had nearly lost one of them.

"Alright…but that will be the last time for today," Sakura said sadly.

He nodded thankful that she would try it just one more time. Therefore, she put her hands on each side of Kakashi's head and started to let her healing chakra flow into him. After a few seconds, there still was not a reaction of the Copy Ninja. As Sakura was about to pull her hands away, his fingers winced.

"Sakura!" Naruto shouted surprised and happy at the same time.

"I noticed it, too! He is waking up!" she cheered. "Come on, Sensei! Open your eyes!"

"Kakashi-Sensei! Can you hear me?" Naruto was trying to hold back his tears as well as Sakura.

"Ugh," Kakashi winced again.

Sakura managed to send more chakra into his body to make it easier for him and less painful. Slowly Kakashi opened his eyes…both of them.

"Sakura! You did it!" Now it was impossible for Naruto and Sakura to hold back their tears of happiness.

"Kakashi-sensei? Do you hear us?" Sakura asked.

He nodded with his eyes still half closed and tried to get up. He was confused. He did not know where he had been and looked around the unfamiliar room. It was not the hospital.

As he sat on the futon, he laid his forehead in his hand, which rested on his knee. Everything was so vague. His sight got worse.

"I feel like I was dead," he coughed out.

All of a sudden, he felt four arms wrapped around his neck. He almost lost his balance, but managed to remain in his position. Looking down to the blond boy and the pink-haired girl, he wondered what had been going on.

"Naruto…Sakura…?"

"Don't ever do this again, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed.

"You were about to die! It nearly was too late!" Sakura cried.

This made Kakashi smile under his mask. He would have never thought that he would be greeted like that someday. However, suddenly he remembered the reason why he was feeling so beaten up.

"What about Akatsuki? And Pain?" he asked seriously.

The reaction he received from Naruto and Sakura confused him. When they pulled away from him and sat to their original places, they smiled widely at him and Naruto's facial expression said it all. Triumph.

"Naruto beat them all, Sensei," Sakura explained.

Kakashi's eyes widened and he watched the blond ninja grinning proudly. This time he had all the right to do that.

"You beat them?" for Kakashi it was unbelievable.

Naruto, the 15-year old, noisy boy…beat Akatsuki. Kakashi thought of how difficult it was to fight Pain and Naruto managed to fight each of them and won against them.

Naruto nodded. "I was taught by the best teachers," his smile vanished by the thought of his dead teacher.

Kakashi and Sakura knew he had been thinking of Jiraya. The pink-haired girl did not know how to cheer him up, so she looked to the ground. Kakashi just smiled and said,

"Naruto, I am proud of you. And Jiraya would be, too, I am sure about this."

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto wondered what the Copy Ninja wanted to say.

"You are the strongest Ninja now in the village, Naruto. It is your time to protect everyone," he continued.

"I won't disappoint you, Sensei," Naruto promised. "And now we have greater news for you."

"Greater than the ones that Akatsuki is destroyed? I doubt that this is possible," Kakashi chuckled.

"Sakura will go to the past sixteen years ago and change everything back then," the noisy boy told him excited.

Kakashi's eyes went wide once more and then he looked to Sakura, who had blushed.

"You are kidding, are you?" he asked with a light nervous laugh.

"Nope, Tsunade will send me there as soon as you will have recovered," Sakura mumbled sheepishly.

Kakashi was speechless.

'Maybe I am dead after all,' he thought.

Suddenly his left eye started hurting. He clenched his hand over it.

"Damn it!"

"Are you alright?" Naruto asked worried.

"What is it, Sensei?" Sakura leaned forward alarmed.

"My eye…I think I overdid it during the fight with Pain," he explained.

"Remove your hand, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura ordered, who was in her medic mode now.

Kakashi obeyed and let her examine his eye. He winced lightly as he felt her chakra flowing into it. After a few moments, she pulled away and asked, "Better?"

"…Not really, but thanks anyway," he said.

"It's your sight, isn't it?" Sakura guessed.

Kakashi nodded and looked at her. He wondered how she could know, but then he remembered who her teacher had been. Maybe he must stop seeing her as a child and should start to treat her as an adult now. He agreed with his thoughts.

"How bad is it?" she asked, as he did not seem to say anything.

"My sight is very vague at the moment…maybe I should wear glasses from now on," he tried to make a joke out of it.

"That's not funny, Sensei," she sighed. "Okay, you'll rest here and Naruto and I will go fetch Tsunade, so that she can treat you."

Sakura stood up, went to the other side of Kakashi, and dragged Naruto along with her.

"Why do I have to come along?" he complained.

"Kakashi-sensei needs some rest…he just woke up," she explained seriously.

When they were out of the room, Kakashi lied on his futon again and closed his eyes. Sakura was right…he needed some rest. The as his thoughts trailed off, he thought about what Naruto had said a few moments ago.

'Sakura will go to the past sixteen years ago and change everything back then'

Kakashi sighed and mumbled to himself.

"I was hardly a few days unconscious and then the world turns upside down."

**3**

**What were you like?**

A whole month passed since Kakashi had woken up. His condition was much better now thanks to the Fifth's and Sakura's treatment. He would have left the room, which replaced the hospital, if most of the village had not been destroyed, along with his apartment. Luckily, it did not smell here as it had in the hospital. Otherwise, he would have escaped the very first day he opened his eyes again here.

The day before yesterday, when Gaara of the desert -Hokage of Sunagakure- had arrived in Konoha, the preparations for the ritual had begun. Tsunade and Gaara locked themselves up in the new office of the Hokage and apparently discussed the occurrence of everything.

Naruto and the rest of the citizens of the hidden leaf village were currently rebuilding their hometown. Everyone was busy doing something. Everyone except for one person.

Sakura was sitting on top of the Fourth's stone head and was thinking about what she would have to do soon. She could not imagine that she would leave Konoha and travel to the past. Actually, she would not leave her village, she knew that, but 16 years ago, she would not know anybody. There would be no Naruto, who would get on her nerves…no Tsunade, who would order her around…no Ino, who would make her angry every time they would meet…no anyone, who would give her the feeling of being home…

Sakura sighed.

"Deep in thoughts, aren't you?" a deep, male voice said behind her.

She turned around to see Kakashi approaching her with his hand greeting her.

"Aren't you supposed to rest, Kakashi-sensei?" she asked giving him a dark glance.

"Well, it is kind of boring in this room because I am out of books and nobody has visited me for the last two days," he said evenly sitting down next to Sakura.

She looked again towards the village and sighed again.

"You know, I would have come here before and would have enjoyed the view, if I had known that this would happen," she told him with a bit of regret in her voice.

Kakashi followed her glance and watched the remains of the village just as his student did.

"You have the chance to do that," he mumbled.

"I know," she whispered.

Although Sakura only said these two words, Kakashi could hear the rest of it, too. He knew that she had wanted to say, 'I wish I didn't have to go.'

He felt sorry for her. She would have nobody back then whom she could entrust everything…she would know nobody and would have to keep her secret half a year. She must feel terrible now…and even worse, with each second the ritual was getting closer. Kakashi tried to come up with something in order to cheer her up, but he was not the type who could do that so easily.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

He looked down to Sakura and met her gaze for a second, before she lowered her glance to the ground.

"Hmm?"

He had no idea, what she could possibly want to know.

"What were you like back then?"

With that question, she caught him off guard. He was not prepared for that. Unwillingly his thoughts trailed off and he remembered the most painful years in his life. Obito…Rin…and the Fourth…the pictures of them filled his mind.

_IT IS A MYSTERY HOW YOU EVER BECAME JONIN!_

…

_I GIVE YOU MY SHARINGAN…_

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked waving a hand in front of his face.

Once his glance refocused on her, he locked these memories up in his mind. He should not think about things that cannot be changed. Not even by Sakura.

"Sorry…I just remembered something…well; to answer your question…I think you won't recognize me once you will have traveled to the past. I mean, of course you will recognize me in the young boy, but my behavior will be a mystery to you," Kakashi told her watching her reaction.

"What…don't tell me you didn't read your precious book back then," she giggled.

"Haha…I meant my character," he rolled his eye at her. "I was not very friendly and…very suspicious of everything. I guess I will give you a hard time, when you are in the past," he smiled at Sakura.

"Mmh…and the Fourth?" there was something in Sakura's eyes, which Kakashi did not miss.

"No chance, Sakura…he had a girlfriend and she was pregnant that time," he laughed quietly at her expression.

"Idiot! I just want to know what he was like…it doesn't happen every day, that I meet the legendary hero of Konoha!"

Kakashi could not help but laugh at Sakura's pink cheeks.

"Don't worry, Sakura…I only wanted to tease you a bit," he laughed and then got serious again. "The Fourth was the kindest person I knew…he trusted anybody and never thought bad of anyone…he was a damn good teacher, too," Kakashi carried on telling Sakura from the time 16 years ago and she listened eagerly.

As time passed and it got dark, Kakashi and Sakura were about to leave, when an Anbu appeared in front of them.

"Kakashi Hatake, you are to come to the Hokage's office," the Anbu said.

Sakura looked up to Kakashi, who nodded and watched the man in front of him disappear again. She could tell that his eyes got smaller…of course she knew what Tsunade had wanted from him and that meant that the ritual would start the next days. Kakashi noticed Sakura's worried glance and smiled down at her.

"Seems like I have to go now…don't worry too much, Sakura, everything will be fine," he said.

She tried to give him a smile, too, but failed miserably. Kakashi ruffled her hair and then disappeared after a quick 'Bye'. Once again, Sakura let out a sigh and made her way down the rock.

~ 14 hours later ~

Everything was finished. The ritual could begin.

"Are you ready, Sakura?" Tsunade asked her placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Do I have a choice?" Sakura's voice was a little shaky.

"Not really."

"Then I think I am ready."

Sakura turned around.

"I guess, this is our farewell," she said trying everything to hold back her tears.

All of her friends had gathered around to say goodbye to her. It was not easy for Sakura to look in their faces without knowing if she would see them ever again. Maybe in a couple of years, when they will have grown up to teenagers again. If she survived the attack of the Kyuubi in half a year 16 years ago, she would not be their friend but just another teacher for them, maybe.

"I'll miss you, Sakura-chan," Naruto said looking to the ground and it seemed as if he was holding back tears himself.

"I'll miss you, too, Naruto," she whispered.

"We know you can do it, Sakura," Sai said stepping forward.

Suddenly everyone said something, which should encourage her. Though she was very grateful that they had faith in her, she was about to cry. It was more painful than she thought it would be.

"Sorry I am late," Kakashi's voice came from behind the crowd.

Just in that moment, everyone's head turned around. Quickly Sakura wiped away the single tear, which escaped from her eye and she silently thanked Kakashi for being late.

"The last man finally made it," Tsunade called over Sakura's head.

Gai, who was standing next to his team- Neji, Tenten and Lee- looked from Kakashi to Sakura and said:

"Sakura, during your mission you could cheer little Kakashi up a bit…he needed some company back then. I am sure he would like a sweet girl accompanying him," he grinned.

Sakura looked over to Kakashi.

"I am not so sure if that would be a good idea," Kakashi began.

"Me neither!" Naruto exclaimed glancing at Sakura as if he wanted to say 'Stay away from him'.

"I am rather worried that my former self will kill her…considering my attitude towards some things," the Copy Ninja smiled at Sakura.

"Okay, enough with the chit-chat…it's time to start," Tsunade said turning around.

A last few goodbyes were whispered and then Sakura and Kakashi made their way towards the Fifth Hokage.

On the ground, there was a black circle with three triangles -with the same distance between each other- on top of it. With a closer look, you could see that the black line of the circle consisted of an incantation. Gaara was already sitting in one of the circles prepared for the ritual. Tsunade sat down in a second triangle and started to explain.

"Kakashi, you will stand in the third triangle and wait for my sign. Then you will create your Chidori and attack Sakura with it. Sakura, you will just stand in the middle of the circle and concentrate on the time 16 years ago…nothing more."

Kakashi and Sakura took their places and waited.

As the Hokage and the Kazekage started to form seals, the atmosphere for Sakura got tense. The air got thicker and it became hard for her to breath. Her sight got blur and then she heard a strange but also familiar noise…as if thousands of birds flew towards her.

"CHIDORI!"

Then Sakura saw a flash of blue and heard someone shouting 'Tankén Tsukíhi no jutsu!' as everything around her started to move. She felt a light pressure on her stomach and then she fell.

**4**

**In the past at last**

Sakura's mind was blank at first. All she could remember were some pictures that came to her mind. A blue thunder…coming towards her and then darkness surrounding her. She also remembered that she had been falling…now she felt the pressure of something against her back. She winced slightly. Was this ritual supposed to be that painful?

"Are you okay?" an unfamiliar voice asked her.

The voice was very close to her, but then again seemed to come from far away. Sakura tried to refocus and to open her eyes. Her back was still hurting…and her eyelids were so heavy, however, she fought the urge to just fall asleep. Slowly she managed to open her eyes and the first thing she saw was a pair of blue eyes, which were damn familiar to her…and this blond, spiky hair.

"Naruto?" her irritated voice sounded as if she had been shouting all day. "Why didn't it work, Tsunade-sama?" although her back hurt, Sakura sat up and was face to face with another person.

Her jaw dropped, as she stared in one single, black eye.

"Holy shit! It worked!" she exclaimed receiving a suspicious glance from the person in front of her.

"I think she hit her head pretty hard," the man kneeling behind Sakura stood up and stretched his head. "Could you bring her to the hospital, Kakashi?"

"Sensei! Are you crazy? This girl appeared out of nowhere and you want me to take her to hospital instead of the investigation building?" the silver-haired guy hissed at the blond man and shot a murderous glance at Sakura while speaking.

'You didn't exaggerate, Kakashi-sensei,' Sakura thought, as she heard the younger Kakashi's tone.

Sakura looked around to make out where she had landed, since it was not easy to say from where she started at home. She recognized the place at once. Right next to her was Ichiraku's ramen shop. In the last 16 years, it had not changed a bit. Maybe the owner was younger, but other than that…nothing.

Kakashi watched her and tried to make out what she was thinking. She seemed to know this place. Then something caught Kakashi's eyes.

"Minato-sensei! Look, she has a forehead protector! I knew it! She is a spy ninja to investigate here for another country!" it looked like Kakashi was about to attack Sakura any second.

"Calm down, Kakashi," Minato said evenly and then stepped to the right side the pink-haired girl, who was still sitting on the ground. "Take a closer look and you will see that she has a hidden leaf forehead protector."

"That must be a fake one," Kakashi started to say.

"Are you the Fourth Hokage? Konoha's yellow flash?" Sakura asked all of a sudden with the fire of excitement burning in her eyes.

Kakashi and Minato changed a quick look and then the Fourth smiled down to her and nodded.

With a sudden movement, Sakura was on her feet and grabbed Minato's hand. Kakashi moved as fast as her and dragged out a kunai and was about to hold it against her throat, but stopped in his tracks as the young kunoichi started to shook the Fourth's hand in awe.

"It's such a pleasure to meet the legendary Hokage! I never thought I would meet you, Konoha's yellow flash, in person! My name is Sakura Ha-," suddenly Sakura snapped out of her enthusiasm and came back down to earth.

She didn't think of a proper story…like what her name was because she wasn't allowed to use her right name her, or like where she was from…but Minato and Kakashi already knew she was a ninja of Konoha…this would be complicated. The Fourth watched her expression and he did not miss the thoughtful glance of her even if it only lasted a second. She smiled and went on.

"Hanuro…My name is Sakura Hanuro," she decided to switch two letters of her second name…it was the best she could come up with now.

Kakashi looked at her as if she had lost her mind, but Minato just went on smiling at her, when she released his hand.

"I am honored that I seem to be so famous," he said chuckling.

"Of course you are! Defeating -," she was about to say 'the Kyuubi', but stopped before she could tell too much. "Eh…defeating so many enemies in the third secret world war and playing a big role in enduring it…you are one of the best shinobi, who have ever lived!"

Sakura was still all excited. She could not believe it that she actually had done it! Traveling 16 years in the past…her mind wandered off to the event, which would happen in half a year and she thought of how she should tell Minato that she was from the future.

"I don't want to disturb, but we should go to a less crowded place," Kakashi hissed again.

Only now, Sakura noticed that people had stopped and were standing around them watching the scene. The faces were not familiar to her.

"Let's get out of here," Minato agreed. "Do you mind if you come with us?"

Sakura shook her head and then shot a glance to Kakashi, who had grumbled something unintelligible. It was clear that he would not have given her a choice.

As soon as they escaped from the crowd and were now in the Hokage's tower, Sakura thought of so many ways to tell the Fourth everything, but no idea was good enough.

The young Copy Ninja walked behind her and watched every single move she made. He knew that she was hiding something from them and that she was up to something, but he could not tell what it was. He was sure that she must have been a spy who was sent to Konoha with some kind of summoning jutsu…otherwise she would not have appeared out of nowhere. Kakashi also wondered what his Sensei was thinking that he let her wander around with them instead of interrogate her.

Minato made his way to his office followed by the two ninjas. When they passed by the Hokage's office, he looked back at the teenagers smiling.

"Once we are in my office we can talk privately."

Kakashi wondered what that was about.

"But we just passed by your office, didn't we?" Sakura asked not being aware of the Hokage's trap.

The Copy Ninja's eye widened.

"Oh yes…my mistake," Minato gave her an innocent smile and returned to the door, which they just passed by and opened it.

Walking inside he signaled Sakura to sit down in the chair in front of the desk. As she did so, she heard Kakashi closing the door and approaching them. She could feel his murderous glance on her…it was uncomfortable.

"How do you feel?" Minato asked taking his seat behind the desk.

"I am fine," this time Sakura did not miss the signified glance the Fourth shot at Kakashi.

Behind her Kakashi revealed his Sharingan and watched her chakra flowing through her body.

"Okay, then…Sakura, you said your name was? Where are you from?"

Now Kakashi understood…his Sensei wanted to interrogate her himself and he should find out -with his Sharingan- if she was lying to him or not.

Sakura tried to come up with a good story…but failed. They knew she was a kunoichi from Konoha…so she just decided to keep as close to the truth as possible. At least she must hide the complete truth from Kakashi…for the moment.

"I am from Konoha," she said.

"How come that I don't know you then?" Minato asked suspiciously.

Kakashi noticed that her chakra flow quickened. Sakura turned her head slightly to the silver-haired guy and saw that his Sharingan watched her.

"Ah…that's how it is…well if that's the case then I suppose that I won't be able to lie," she said turning to Minato again, who nodded once. "I wasn't here until now."

"Were have you been then?"

"Sorry, but I can't tell you," Sakura tried to smile a bit.

"Are you a spy?"

"No!"

The Fourth looked over to Kakashi, who answered his silent question.

"She is telling the truth…so far."

Sakura rolled her eyes and remembered the talk she had with Kakashi-sensei a couple of hours ago. He was telling her about his former self, but she expected him to exaggerate…about his character. She could not believe that someone could act that way the older Kakashi described but now she had prove. The younger Kakashi was a suspicious, little brat. Sakura could not imagine that this person would be her nice, friendly teacher in some years.

"What do you want here?" Minato kept asking her questions; however, she decided not to answer them in order to keep her mission safe.

After his fruitless attempts to get some information from her, he sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"I guess -although you are keeping a lot of things from us- we can trust you. You don't seem like you planned something, which would cause the village a lot of troubles," he smiled.

"I don't trust her at all! She is a stranger who is carrying a hidden leaf forehead protector! And I bet nobody in the whole village knows her!"

Sakura had stood up and had turned around to the annoying guy and was about to protest, when the door flew open and a woman with long red hair stood in the doorframe panting.

"You are so dead, Minato! Believe it!"

**5**

**No new member for team Minato?**

"Ku - Kushina?" Minato gasped jumping out of his seat, as the red haired woman approached the desk, where the Fourth sat. "Oh shit! What time is it now?"

"Too late! Do you have the slightest idea how long I have been waiting for you?" the woman shouted annoyed.

Sakura looked confused from the Fourth to the woman and then to the silver haired guy behind her. However, Kakashi would not pay attention to the young kunoichi. He just stared at his Sensei and sighed putting his forehead protector back over his Sharingan. When the strange and obviously pissed woman, who was called Kushina by the Fourth passed by Sakura, she did not even seem to notice her. She had only eyes for Minato.

"I am really sorry, Kushina…but you see…I had business to attend to and it took longer than I expected," he said stretching his head.

This blond man reminded Sakura so much of Kakashi-sensei. Maybe he picked up some of his Sensei's behavior. The pink haired girl shot a glance at the guy still standing behind her, who watched the scene in front of him, and sighed. It was impossible to imagine that he would change this much in a couple of years.

"What business…?" Kushina asked skeptically.

Sakura looked back to see Minato waving a hand in her direction. Kushina turned her head to see who he was pointing at. Her eyes narrowed. The young kunoichi lowered her head to escape the captivating glance of the scary woman.

"Who is she?" her tone made Sakura shiver.

"Her name is Sakura…Hanuro," nobody missed the short hesitation of the Fourth.

Kushina turned her head back to the blond man in front of her and asked with a dark voice:

"And pinky here was your business?"

Sakura's head shot up, as she heard her new nickname. She was angry…she definitely liked 'forehead girl' better than…pinky. Behind her she could hear someone chuckle. Moreover, Minato pressed his lips together in order not to laugh either.

'Great,' she thought.

"Yes, kind of. You know, she will be the new member of our team," he told her with a small smile on his face.

For a minute, there was absolute silence in the room. Sakura was shocked. She did not intend to be the Fourth's student, but that fact to be taught by a legend made her euphoric. Kakashi on the other hand was more than angry…furious would be a better word to describe him.

"NO! She definitely WILL NOT be a new member of our team! Our team is already COMPLETE!"

Sakura flinched because of his obvious animosity. Everybody stared at the silver haired Jonin now. Minato and Kushina with sympathy, although the Fourth looked a bit blue, too. Sakura's facial expression only showed shock and fear.

"You promised me, Sensei! No one will ever take their places! These were your words!" with that, he left the room like a raging bull.

The pink haired girl did not know what to say. She had never seen or heard Kakashi-sensei shouting like that. In addition, she hoped that this was the first and the last time she would ever have to hear or see it again. He scared her.

"You should have known that this would happen, when you suggest something like that," Kushina sighed.

"What is with him?" Sakura asked sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it, Sakura. He will get used to you as his new team mate," Minato pursed his lips and added, "Maybe I should talk to him…as a precaution."

"But if Kakashi is against it, maybe I should-"

"As I said: Don't worry," the Hokage smiled at her encouraging. "Maybe you want to look around the village a bit. Since you came from here, you should be able to orient yourself."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Sakura said bowing her head lightly.

"Minato-sensei from now on," Minato corrected her.

She smiled and then left the room with a broad smile on her face. Kushina and Minato watched her go away and when they could not sense her chakra nearby, Kushina started.

"Something is strange about her…Does she know Kakashi from somewhere?"

"Well, Kakashi obviously doesn't know her. But she pronounced his name indeed as if _she_ knows _him_," he mumbled suspiciously.

"I don't like how she looks at you," Kushina added in a low voice.

"What…are you jealous?" he smiled happily.

"Shut up, Minato…I meant, she looks at you with such awe as if it was impossible for her to ever meet you in person…as if she has met a dead hero", the red haired woman assumed not knowing that she had hit the bull's eye.

"I know," was all the Hokage could say.

Sakura was wandering along the streets of Konoha, which were so familiar to her and yet they were not. The smell of her hometown was the same as it would be in the future. Everything was the same except…the people living in there. As she walked down the street to Ichiraku's Ramen shop, she noticed the stares of the citizens on her.

"That's her."

"This is the girl, who appeared out of nowhere a few hours ago."

"The Hokage took her with him."

"I have never seen her before."

"Nor have I."

"Is she from another country?"

"Don't think so…look at her forehead protector."

"She is a ninja?"

"No way."

"A leaf ninja?"

Sakura did not like to be the center of attention. She felt uncomfortable to be the topic of the villagers…She sighed and just decided to ignore the gossips.

'It can't be helped,' she thought.

"Hey…are you the girl the whole village is talking about?" a voice asked beside Sakura.

She jumped slightly and looked who this voice belonged to. A boy with dark hair, which was tied up to a ponytail in his neck, and with a black shirt and white pants was leaning against the fence, which she was just passing by. His eyes were black, too. At first, she had no clue of who he could be. However, his glance just looked like Sasuke's glance. He must be around 8 years old.

"Yes…I am," Sakura said after a minute of just staring at the boy.

"You are a leaf shinobi, too?"

His cool voice resembled Sasuke's too. It made her shiver.

"Y-yes."

"What is your name?"

"Why are you asking me these questions, kid?" Sakura was confused.

This felt like an interrogation.

"Did Kakashi ask you do to this?" she asked annoyed at the thought of the silver haired Jonin to involve a little kid.

"Tss…as if this murderer dared to talk to us once again," the boy's voice was threatening.

Sakura raised one eyebrow and wanted to ask what he meant by that, when a deep harsh voice interrupted.

"Itachi! Come here!"

Sakura froze.

"Well, it seems like we have to postpone this conversation," Itachi said coolly and walked to the man, who called him just now.

The pink haired kunoichi leaned against the fence, where Itachi had leant a minute ago and tried to realize who she had been talking to.

'Itachi Uchiha,' she did not dare to call his name aloud, but she watched the man, who wore a Jonin vest, and the boy, whose shirt showed the Uchiha symbol on his back.

Sakura had never thought of this before, but now it was so clear! She did not only have the chance to hinder the Kyuubi to destroy Konoha, but she also had the chance to hinder Itachi to kill his clan! Then Sasuke would have no reason to take revenge on his brother and therefore he would not join Akatsuki to destroy Konoha! Now everything fell into pieces and she was as optimistic as she had never been before.

**6**

**Bring it on, Copy Cat!**

"What do you think?"

"Well, I don't know her."

"That's exactly the point. No one in the whole village seems to know her."

"Minato…"

"Hmm?"

While the Hokage was sitting in his chair behind the desk, he looked out of the window watching the pink hair kunoichi, who was just passing by the tower. As Sarutobi, who was standing beside him and watched the unfamiliar girl, did not go on, Minato looked at him.

"…It doesn't matter. I am seeing things," the former Hokage sighed. "How long has she been here?"

"About six hours," the blond man answered.

"Did she mention something…which made you feel suspicious?" the old man asked in a low voice.

"That's the problem…she wouldn't tell us much," just in that moment he remembered something Sakura had said, when she had arrived.

"_Why didn't it work, Tsunade-sama?"_

"Actually…she seems to know Tsunade-hime," Minato said.

"Tsunade? That's strange…usually she doesn't get involved with people except she wants money," Sarutobi giggled at the thought of his former student.

"Mmh…should we get Tsunade here? Maybe she can give us some answers," the Hokage suggested not very convinced himself.

"No…let us observe the stranger at first and then, when we get too suspicious, we can still call Tsunade here."

Both of them turned away from the window. As Sarutobi sat down on the chair on the opposite of the Hokage's desk, he smiled widely at the blond man.

"Well?"

"Well what?" Minato asked confused by the old man's smile and question.

"How does your relationship with Kushina-san go?"

"Where the hell could he be?" Sakura wondered when she wandered along the streets of Konoha passing by the Hokage tower not aware that she was being observed.

The pink hair girl was searching for a certain shinobi…her future sensei. She wanted to talk to him and ask him what exactly his problem was. Of course, she was a stranger and she knew, that everybody had had the right of being suspicious of her, but that didn't give Kakashi the right to act like the way he had done towards her.

Sakura spaced out and remembered her talk with Kakashi-sensei in the future.

"_I was not very friendly and…very suspicious of everything. I guess I will give you a hard time, when you are in the past"_

'You didn't have to understate this much,' she sighed. 'You were a damn brat! You could have told me _that_!'

"Ah! The memorial!" Sakura's head shot up, as she thought of the place Kakashi first had told them about his best friend.

She hurried and ran to the training ground. Each step, which brought her nearer to the memorial, made her more nervous. Suddenly she was somewhat shy - almost afraid. However, this was her Sensei she wanted to talk to and not some crazy murderer. There was no need to feel that way. However, the glance of Kakashi, when he first saw her or when she was told that she could become a member of his team, was more than frightening. As if, he wanted to say 'I am going to kill you sooner or later.'

She sighed again.

'I am going to kill her sooner or later, Obito…Rin', Kakashi thought, as he stood in front of the memorial stone 'As soon as I can prove that she is a spy, she will be dead! I will not accept that she will take your place! She will not be a part of our team…ever! I promise.'

Kakashi closed his eye and remembered the most painful moments in his life.

"_Are you okay? Rin…? Kakashi…?"_

"_Obito!" Kakashi and Rin shouted shocked to see their teammate lying under the rock. _

_Kakashi ran to him and tried to lift the rock in order to get Obito out of there, but-_

"_Stop it, Kakashi. For me…it is over. The right side of my body is totally squashed…I don't feel anything…"_

_Kakashi panted because of his useless attempt to lift the rock._

"_No…Obito…why," tears were visible in Rin's eyes._

_The half dead Uchiha coughed blood running down his jaw._

"_Obito!" Rin shouted worried._

"_Damn it!" Kakashi yelled. "If only I had come with you from the very beginning to save Rin…! Then this wouldn't have happened…!"_

_Obito looked at Kakashi with a pensive glance._

"_I am an idiot! And not a Jonin…!" Kakashi felt so guilty._

"_Oh, right…I almost forgot," Obito smiled with his bloody mouth, "Kakashi, I had not given you anything as a present for you becoming a Jonin…"_

_Rin, who now cried silently, and Kakashi regarded him wondering what he was trying to say._

"_I have been thinking about something for the whole time…now…I came up with something….don't worry…it is not useless…"_

_Kakashi waited for him to carry on._

"_I give you this Sharingan…!"_

_Both of the unhurt shinobi were taken by surprise._

"_No matter what people say…you are an excellent Jonin…This eye is…my congratulation…please accept it."_

_Rin wiped away her tears knowing what she had to do next._

"_Rin…please implant my Sharingan….into Kakashi's left eye…"_

"_Kakashi…Come over here! We are starting right away!" Rin said decidedly._

_As Kakashi hesitated, Obito added:_

"_I am going to die soon…I will become your eye and…I will see the future…"_

"Obito," Kakashi sighed.

"So…Obito was the name of your best friend?" Sakura asked approaching the Copy Ninja.

Kakashi turned around and glared once again at Sakura with the intention to kill her. He was indeed frightening, but she tried to keep in mind, that he was her sensei…or would be…soon. Though he almost killed her with his bare glance, she kept approaching him.

"What do you want?" he hissed through his teeth.

"Well…originally I intended to argue with you, however, now I just want to talk to you in order to understand you better…"

"There is no need to do that because we won't ever have to do anything with each other!" He put his hands in his pockets and started to walk away.

"We are teammates from now on," she was not sure if that was the right thing to say now.

"No! We are not! Our team already has four members!"

Geez…he really was stubborn for his age.

"Kakashi, you need to get over his death…he won't come back."

The silver hair teenager stopped in his tracks. He could not believe that he had to listen to that bullshit. He was so damn furious…he wanted to hit something do badly. He would not even mind if he hit that girl.

"Don't talk as if you know what you are talking about! You know nothing!" he hissed again because he was afraid that he would not be able to keep his voice down.

"I know what I am talking about! You know, my teammate left Konoha because he wanted to get more power in order to take revenge on his brother! And for that he went to Orochimaru and betrayed his friends!" Sakura could not stop her anger.

She did not like it that Kakashi acted like he was the only one who had to suffer because of a lost friend.

"You can't compare that! Obito is dead! He was forced to leave this world!"

"Oh, yes! It is so much better to know that someone left because he wanted to!" Sakura said sarcastically.

Once again, Kakashi turned around to face her with blue thunders in his right hand. Now he really would kill her.

"Didn't. I. Tell. You. To. Shut. Up," he emphasized each single word.

"Come on, Copy Cat…Show me what you can do!" Sakura was immediately in fighting mode.

The silver haired guy was about to attack her, when a strict voice approached them.

"Kakashi! Sakura! Stop it!"

Both of them stopped in their tracks. Kakashi's Chidori vanished and they looked to the blond man.

"Minato-sensei," Kakashi sounded guilty.

Sakura snapped out of it and noticed what she almost had done. All her chakra was concentrated in her left hand and she was ready to beat the hell out of her future sensei.

"Hokage-sama," she sounded as guilty as Kakashi.

"Are you two aware of what-", he let out a heavy sigh, "okay, I won't lecture you…I think you know what would have happened, if I hadn't stopped you."

Minato stopped a few meters away from them and watched every move of his students. Of course, he noticed the amount of chakra Sakura had concentrated in her left hand a few seconds ago. It was obvious what damage she could have done.

"If this happens ever again, I will have you two quitting as Shinobi…do you understand me?" His anger did not allow antagonism.

"And…as teammates I want you to cooperate as such."

"But…Sensei," Kakashi tried to disagree.

"No, Kakashi! No buts! This is an _order_!"

Kakashi flinched.

'An order,' the Copy Ninja repeated in his mind.

**7**

**Mission failed**

"No, Kakashi! No buts! This is an _order_!"

Kakashi flinched.

'An order,' the Copy Ninja repeated in his mind.

Minato, Kakashi, and Sakura were standing in front of the memorial stone facing each other. Neither the Copy Ninja nor Sakura dared to say anything else after the Hokage's harsh exclamation. The only thing, which filled the awkward silence between them, was the wind blowing through the trees of the forest nearby.

Sakura -who had lowered her head before- looked up to see what Kakashi was doing. The moment she saw his expression, she felt somehow guiltier than she had before. She knew that it had not been his fault. She had provoked him and now he was the one who was lectured.

"Hokage-sama," she said sheepishly.

Though her voice was soft and quiet it seemed - after the silence- as if she was shouting. Minato and Kakashi looked at her surprised that she began the conversation. As soon as Sakura was sure that she had their attentions, she continued.

"First, let me say this clearly…I am the one to blame for the fight we almost had. I provoked Kakashi and he only reacted as everybody would react. Therefore, it was not his fault. In addition, I think Kakashi has the right to disagree with you…concerning me as his new teammate. If he does not want me as his new teammate, I understand… I was just angry with him because of the way he behaved towards me earlier…so please do not order him around in this matter. It is understandable that he doesn't want me to replace his dead teammate -what is not my intention- and I appreciate his attitude," a smile appeared in her face, as she thought of Kakashi-sensei's first true lecture for team 7. "You see, those in the Ninja World who break the rules and regulations are called trash, but those who don't care about their companions are even worse than trash."

Minato watched her and took each word of what she had said seriously. Of course, he recognized the familiar sentence, which Kakashi had told him about two years ago.

Kakashi gasped. Not because he was surprised, that Sakura would take his side, but because of what her last sentence was. This was exactly the line what Obito had told him before the Uchiha boy had gone to rescue Rin. No one could possibly know the exact same words except-

"Sakura," Minato sighed.

Realizing what she just did made her regret that she ever opened her mouth. She actually lectured the Hokage! The legendary hero of Konoha! The yellow flash, for god's sake!

"I am sorry! I didn't mean to," she started to apologize.

"No, you were right, Sakura…but now we really need to know who you are," the Hokage stared at her.

Sakura was disappointed because she was not allowed to say anything. She knew she would not be able to answer. Therefore, she shook her head slightly.

"You don't have to tell us details, but just a little truth wouldn't hurt, you know."

Since she still was not going to answer, Minato sighed and then smiled at her. Confused she raised her eyebrows. When he smiled like that, he could be Naruto's brother. These two deep blue eyes, the wide grin, and the messy hair…it was just like he stole all that from Naruto.

"How about I treat you two to a cup of Ramen?" the Hokage suggested.

"Thank you, but I-", Sakura was about to say no, however, her stomach wanted her to go very badly. "happily accept your offer," she mumbled embarrassed.

The Hokage giggled and then turned to Kakashi.

"What about you Kakashi? Want to come along?"

"…No, I think I have to rest for a bit at home…I don't feel well," Kakashi shot a confused glance at the pink hair girl without her noticing it.

Minato nodded understanding what was going on. As Kakashi slightly waved them goodbye, he turned away from them and walked home.

Of course, Minato and Sakura went to no other Ramen shop than to Ichiraku's. This was also something that reminded her of her blond, noisy friend. While both of them were waiting for their cup of Ramen, Minato started with his questions.

"You don't have to answer very detailed…just tell me what you think you can tell me."

Sakura nodded.

"So…let's start then…Is your name really Sakura Hanuro?" he asked watching every single move of her.

"My first name really is Sakura, but I can't tell you my last name."

"Did you run away from home?"

Sakura smiled. "No…I was kind of sent away."

"From where?"

"…sorry, it is better if I don't tell anything else to this question."

Minato nodded and then asked the next question. "You are a Leaf Ninja."

"Yes," answered confused by his statement.

"You know Tsunade-hime," another statement.

Sakura nodded again.

"But you won't tell anything else to this matter," he guessed.

"There is nothing more to tell…I know Tsunade-sama, but I doubt she would recognize me, yet," the pink hair girl sighed sadly.

"Yet?"

_Ups. _"Next question, please"

"You also seem to know Kakashi," now he collected the facts he had about her.

"Yes, although the Kakashi I know…is a little…more…well, mature," she blushed.

"But you doubt that he would remember you, yet?" he smiled at her.

Sakura had to smile too.

"What are you doing here?"

Sakura thought of how she should answer this question without telling too much. "I want to help Konoha…the village and its villagers will need help soon."

The Hokage's eyes narrowed. "Something is going to happen?"

She nodded again.

"When?"

"I don't know for sure…," she whispered.

"How do you know this?"

"Sorry, but I really can't tell you," her gaze wandered from her hands- which were on the table- to a picture which was on the wall on the opposite. She was afraid that she would reveal anything to Konoha's yellow flash, if she looked into his eyes.

"Okay…so this is my last question for you, but please be honest," the Hokage took a deep breath.

"Alright."

"The sentence you had said at the memorial stone…you know, 'those in the Ninja World who break the rules etc.'…"

"What about it?" she was surprised that Minato made such a concerned face.

"Where did you hear this?"

"Eh…my sensei once lectured my teammates and me with this phrase…that's how I know this phrase," she answered honestly.

"Who is your sensei?"

Once again, she could not bear it to look into his eyes and so she turned her face away from him.

Minato sighed. "Well, I can't force you…let's eat our Ramen first and then we have to think of something."

Just as Minato finished the sentence, two cups of Miso Ramen were placed in front of them. While he was dividing his chopsticks from each other, Sakura asked curiously.

"What do we have to think of?"

The Hokage smiled before taking a bite of his meal. "Where you will stay from now on. Since no one knows you here, I doubt that you have a home in the Hidden Leaf Village."

After both of them had finished their meal, the Hokage paid the bill and then they left the Ramen Shop. Just as they stepped outside, an angry red hair woman was standing in front of them glaring at the blond man.

"Do I have to worry that you seem to spend more time with pinky than with me?" she hissed.

Minato stretched the back of his head nervously, when he answered. "Sorry, I know I am late."

Now Sakura knew where Kakashi picked up this habit of stretching the back of his head like that.

"No need to apologize…I just have to look for another companion, too. Maybe there are still some men interested in me," Kushina said sarcastically.

"Don't be mad, Kushina," Minato tried to calm her down.

With an "_Hmpf,"_ she turned away from him, so that her face was now lighted up by the street lamp. Since it was already dark, Sakura had not noticed it before, but-

"Are you feeling alright, Kushina-san?" Sakura asked worried.

The Hokage looked at the pink hair girl confused then his glance wandered back to Kushina.

"Of course…why would I not?" the red hair woman answered with a confused, but soft voice.

"You are sweating pretty much and you are pale like a ghost," Sakura pointed to Kushina's face.

"Ah…no, no…I am fine," Kushina laughed nervously.

Sakura was not content with her answer. There must have been something wrong with her, if she had sweated that much. The young kunoichi thought about the symptoms, but could not make out any disease, which would show these ones.

All of a sudden, Sakura remembered her talk with Kakashi-sensei one day ago.

"_Sorry…I just remembered something…well; to answer your question…I think you won't recognize me once you will have traveled to the past. I mean, of course you will recognize me in the young boy, but my behavior will be a mystery to you," Kakashi told her watching her reaction._

"_What…don't tell me you didn't read your precious book back then," she giggled._

"_Haha…I meant my character," he rolled his eye at her. "I was not very friendly and…very suspicious of everything. I guess I will give you a hard time, when you are in the past," he smiled at Sakura._

"_Mmh…and the Fourth?" there was something in Sakura's eyes, which Kakashi did not miss._

"_No chance, Sakura…he had a girlfriend and she was pregnant that time," he laughed quietly at her expression._

"_Idiot! I just want to know what he was like…it doesn't happen every day, that I meet the legendary hero of Konoha!"_

"Don't you feel well, because of the pregnancy?" Sakura asked.

Kushina and Minato gasped in shock…though both were shocked because of different reasons.

"How-?" Kushina asked Sakura.

"When-?" Minato asked Kushina.

"Why-?" Sakura asked confused.

"I didn't tell anybody about the pregnancy…and I only have known it for a few hours…How could you know this?" Kushina asked more than surprised.

"When-," the Hokage was about to ask his girlfriend something, when he realized what Kushina just said about Sakura. How did she know it?

The blond man and the red hair woman stared at Sakura with suspicion and expectation. Now nothing could save Sakura anymore. If she wanted to keep her secret, she had to think of something immediately!

'Damn you, Kakashi-sensei! You did not have to tell me that much!' she cursed her Sensei in her mind.

**8**

**To be honest**

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

The seconds passed by while nobody said a word.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Sakura wondered how much time had already passed since Minato, Kushina, and she have come to the Hokage's house. They did not want to talk about anything on the streets, so Kushina had suggested going to their house and continuing there.

First Sakura was relieved that they got away from the streets, where anyone could have eavesdropped, but now she regretted that she had come with them. Not that she had had a chance…It would have been very, very suspicious, if she had run away without any explanation.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Finally, the pink hair girl could not stand this silence and the stares of two certain people anymore and she began to talk.

"Okay. I will tell you."

Sakura was sitting on the one side of the table, which was standing in front of the kitchen, and Minato and Kushina were sitting next to each other on the other side of the table.

Kushina raised an eyebrow. "You'll tell us how you knew that I was pregnant?"

Sakura nodded, but before she began with her story, she paused.

"…"

Minato noticed that she had no idea where to start.

"Just begin at the very beginning," he smiled warmly at her. "Where did you come from, when Kakashi and I found you a couple of hours ago?"

Now he stared at her seriously again.

"Well, as I said I had come from Konoha," Sakura started.

Before Kushina and Minato could interrupt her, she waved a hand to silence them immediately.

"I know it sounds impossible, but I am from the Konoha about 16 year from now. Tsunade-Shishou, the fifth Hokage of the future Konoha, sent me here to hinder the Nine-tailed fox to appear here and destroy Konoha. I want to change the past, so that the future Konoha won't be destroyed in 16 years."

"Stop! Stop! Stop! Sorry to interrupt, but I don't understand…You are really saying that you are from the future?" Minato asked curiously.

Sakura nodded.

"How did you come here? You said Tsunade had sent you here, but how?" Kushina asked.

"She used some kind of jutsu…she wouldn't tell me exactly what it was, but I know that she did the exact opposite of what you", she glanced at the Yondaime. "did, when you use your jutsu."

"And what about the Nine-tailed fox? He will appear here?" Minato was confused.

Sakura could not look him in the eyes and nodded again.

"When?" he asked, when Sakura would not tell anything else.

"In about six or seven months…I think."

For a few seconds the silence from before returned. It was embarrassing for Sakura. She must have sounded like someone who went crazy. Then Minato sighed and asked again.

"Okay. I believe you from now on, but please tell us everything you know. You said Konoha will be destroyed in 16 years….Who will destroy it?"

She thought of her answer for a second and then replied, "A group of S-rank missing Ninjas, called Akatsuki, will destroy it."

Her voice was shaking a bit because of the memory of the immense destruction Pain caused.

"Why?" Kushina was curious too.

Sakura sighed. "You will know sooner or later, so I tell you now. Akatsuki wants all the tailed beasts. In order to gain their goal they came to Konoha to kill the boy who carries the nine-tailed fox inside of him. You see, the nine-tailed fox was sealed inside this boy, when he was a newborn. And the person who sealed the fox was no other person than the legendary fourth Hokage of Konoha."

…

…

Minato and Kushina were speechless. What Sakura just said was unbelievable for them.

"Please say something," Sakura whispered.

"Hn…What should we say? You just told us something unbelievable. I mean, this is just crazy. You are crazy!" Kushina exclaimed.

"Kushina," Minato said and in his voice made it clear that she should calm down.

"Sakura, are you saying that you want to prevent that the nine-tailed fox is sealed in that new born?" the Yondaime said.

"I just want to prevent that the nine-tailed fox appears here in the first place," Sakura said with a low voice.

"And how are you going to do this?" he raised his eyebrows in expectation.

"Well, I am working on that aspect."

"So that's why you also knew that I was pregnant. Because you really are from the future," Kushina said suddenly annoyed.

"Yes," was Sakura's simple answer.

Then Minato chuckled quietly.

"There is another thing I want to know very badly. Your Sensei is Kakashi, isn't it?"

Sakura's eyes widened in shock.

"How do you know? I have never-"

Now Minato laughed very hard so that he almost cried.

"I knew it…I bet he always appears too late to any appointment, isn't he? And for that he always has some lame excuses."

"How-?" Sakura was surprised that he knew that because the current Kakashi does not seem like that at all.

The laughter of the Hokage subsided and then he sighed. "Actually this isn't funny. You know, the sentence you lectured me earlier…this is actually a sentence Obito had said some time ago, before he had died…and then you said your Sensei taught you this sentence at your first training. Now that I know your Sensei is Kakashi, I also know that he must try to act like Obito, since he copied his rule."

"So Kakashi-sensei's behavior is just an act?" Sakura was surprised.

"Maybe," Minato smiled again.

"…so that's how it is. The next six or seven months I will do anything to come up with an idea to make the nine-tailed fox stay away from here, I promise! But until then I beg you two to not say a single word about our conversation to anybody!" the pink hair girl's panic was visible in her eyes.

"Don't worry, Sakura. Nobody from Konoha will know what we talked about, I promise you," the fourth was as serious as before, when they had arrived here.

Sakura nodded and then looked at Kushina.

"Sure, sure! I won't tell anything!"

"Thank you…eh-"

"What?" Kushina was still annoyed.

"May I use your bathroom? I really need a toilet now!" Sakura said jumping off the chair.

"The bathroom is the last door in the corridor," Minato said pointing to the dark corridor, but then Sakura already ran away in the direction, where his finger pointed to.

When Kushina and Minato were sure that Sakura closed the bathroom door, Kushina took Minato's hand in hers and faced him with a worried expression.

"Do you believe her?" she asked.

"Yes. Kushina, I know, why you are worried, but I promise you…now that I know that I am going to die in half a year, I won't leave your side."

"How do I know that you won't change your mind in half a year in order to protect the village?"

"You don't know it, but you have to trust me," he looked her straight in the eyes.

"…"

"More importantly…will you tell me how long you have been pregnant?" his smile returned.

She smiled too. "For two months now."

Minato wrapped his arms around her and hugged her as if this was his last chance to do so. Although he was happy to know that he will be father, there was another thought crossing his mind. It needed only two words to make him shudder.

'A newborn'

**9**

**Killing or Seducing?**

"What do you think, Obito? What should I do?" the whisper subsided in the heavy rain.

It was late at night and it was raining, but he did not care. The wind blew the cold water in his face, but he simply did not care after all that had happened that day.

Since he had not been able to sleep earlier, he decided to come here. He always ended up at the memorial, when something went wrong, which had happened a lot in the past three years. First was Obito's death, then the insults of the villagers after hearing of Kakashi possessing the Sharingan now, then Rin's death and now again the insults.

"What if she is a spy? I bet she would only wait for the right moment to either steal important information or to kill Minato-sensei. But she doesn't look like a spy and really doesn't behave like one…I mean she wasn't lying today." Kakashi closed his eyes and stood up from his sitting position next to the memorial.

Pacing back and forth, he thought about his next move. As he wanted to be the next to do something before her, he had to make a decision soon. He would definitely find out who this girl was no matter what!

"Sakura…"

He knew what to do.

Sakura was sleeping deeply in a bed, which was in a guestroom of the Hokage's room. After telling her secret to the Yondaime, she felt relieved. However, at the same time she felt miserable because she was not able to keep said secret to her more than 9 hours. She failed at her mission. Well, at least at a part of it.

Slowly the room got colder, when the window creaked open and a dark shadow sneaked inside. As soon as the still sleeping Sakura noticed the cold, she shifted uncomfortably under her blanket. The dark shadow quietly closed the window again and then made his way to that side of her bed, where he was still able to see the door, if Minato or Kushina was to come to look after her. He bent down a little.

"Wake up," he whispered.

"Hmm," she groaned turning away from him half-awake now.

"Hey, wake the hell up, girl!" though he whispered, you could clearly make out the angry tone of his voice.

"What," she sleepily said and turned her head to the shadow.

Gasping at the stranger in her room, she shook off the blankets and was about to run away. She was too shocked to scream in that moment. However, she had no chance to get away from him. Before she could even get out of bed, he grabbed her around the waist and pressed his hand on her mouth to keep her silent. Now he was half kneeing on the edge of the bed with her back pressed against his chest. Sakura tried to struggle, but gave up as she knew that it had been senseless. She could not get away.

"Be quiet…," he whispered against her ear.

In that very moment, many things happened at once to Sakura. Kakashi's whisper made her shiver so much that her mind went blank instantly. Only now, she noticed that he was totally soaked and made her bare back - since she only wore her underwear- wet, too. The cold feeling from her back was not the main problem now, but the fact that he had wrapped his hand around her waist to keep her to him and that his other hand was pressed on her mouth, so that her breath came out as pants. However, this was not the main problem either. No. The main problem was his hot breath against her ear and now against her neck! She did not know if he was doing this on purpose, but the contrast between his cold body and his hot breath against her, brought her an unbelievable sensation.

"I just want some answers, Sakura," his whispers were her sentence of death.

This incredible feeling built up inside of her, as her breathing -or more likely panting- quickened a bit.

Kakashi, who noticed the change in her breathing, wondered what was wrong with her. This was not the normal 'I am afraid'- breathing, but another one.

"What is wrong with y-," he whispered again and that did it!

"Kakashi," Sakura moaned against the inside of his hand.

Hearing that, Kakashi withdrew immediately, so that Sakura fell down on her pillow with her head. Panting heavily, she tried to calm down. Only now, she realized what she has done!

'Oh my god! I moaned because of Kakashi! He actually turned me on!' she thought blushing deeply.

"Are you nuts? I didn't come here for that!" Kakashi shouted from a corner of the room.

Grabbing the blanket, Sakura covered her front and then hissed annoyed.

"Who are you calling nuts, you pervert! You sneaked in a girl's room and did this to me! This is your fault!"

"You are crazy! You are reacting to something I did not even do! You should read the atmosphere, before jumping to conclusions!"

"The atmosphere? The atmosphere! A soaked guy sneaks in a sleeping girl's room, grabbing her from behind and whispering against her ear. There is not much to read for me out of the atmosphere!" Sakura shouted back.

Although Sakura could not see it, Kakashi's face heated up and showed a dark red color.

In that moment the light was switched on and a very sleepy Minato stood in the doorframe.

"Kakashi, what are you doing here?" Minato looked from the Copy Ninja to Sakura - both with a red face - who covered herself with a handful blankets.

Minato's eyes widened and his gaze wandered back to Kakashi. "Did you-?"

"No!" Kakashi and Sakura both said immediately knowing what the Hokage had thought.

"Okay, before I go crazy, I suggest you two explain to me what is going on here," the Hokage said eying the both of them.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Minato busted out in laughter after hearing what had happened before.

This reaction of him caused Sakura to blush deeper than before.

"This is my student! I knew you would be popular with girls!" the Hokage laughed as loud as before.

Just like Sakura, he blushed, but thanks to his mask, nobody could tell.

"This is not funny, sensei!" Kakashi said embarrassed.

After laughing a bit more, Minato sighed and then looked at Kakashi again.

"You are right. That's not funny," a smile was visible on his face. "Well…what did you want from Sakura, anyway?"

"Answers," Kakashi said glancing at Sakura.

Sakura looked up at Minato worried that he might tell Kakashi something, which he should not tell at all. However, Minato was as calm as ever. He would keep his promise.

"Kakashi, if you don't trust Sakura, then you have to trust me. I am telling you that her intentions are honest."

Kakashi was about to say something, but Minato waved a hand to silence him.

"No, Kakashi. Do not ask any further. Just trust me, okay? You will understand sooner or later."

Sakura formed a silent 'thank you' with her lips and leaned against the wall sitting in her bed. She knew that she could trust the Hokage.

"…I guess I have to trust you then, if even Minato-sensei trusts you," the silver hair guy said looking at Sakura.

Just as she smiled shyly at him, he continued. "But that doesn't mean that I accept you as my teammate!"

'Ouch!' Sakura thought.

"It doesn't matter. As long as you trust me…that is enough for me," she had a sad smile on her face. "…eh…could you leave now? I am really tired."

Minato and Kakashi nodded and went to the door. The Copy Ninja followed his Sensei, but stopped in the doorframe to turn around.

"Sorry for…you know…eh…for," he stuttered. "it won't happen again."

"Don't worry…as if I let a perverted guy sneak into my room twice!" she said sarcastically.

"Tss, you didn't even notice it, when I came in here! When you are sleeping, I possibly could," he broke up in mid-sentence, as he realized what he was going to say and blushed deeply.

As well as Sakura.

"Pervert!" she whispered.

"Good night, Sakura," he turned around again, switched off the light and closed the door behind himself.

While the pink hair girl lay down and tried to sleep again, Kakashi was facing a grinning blond man in the corridor. Blushing Kakashi went by the Hokage heading for the front door.

"Really Kakashi! You need a girlfriend," Minato said grinning.

"Maybe," Kakashi replied while he left the Hokage's house with a dark red face.

As Minato made his way back to his bedroom, he switched off all the lights and then went back to Kushina, who was half-awake and asked:

"What was going on with Sakura?"

Smiling Minato lay down, covered himself with the blanket, and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Well, I think that Sakura and her future - but now much younger - Sensei feel the chemistry between them."

"What? Kakashi was here?" Kushina was fully awake in a second. "Did they-?"

"What are you thinking, Kushina?" Minato asked teasingly.

"You…you jerk! Do not make such innuendos, if they are not true! So what happened really?"

"Nothing important," he whispered. "Kakashi almost seduced Sakura, but that's all."

"About time, that this guy at least tries to get a girl, but does it have to be his future student?"

"Well, let's say, that Sakura surely wouldn't mind. He got a quite good reaction from her," he grinned.

Kushina's eyes widened.

In that night, two people in Konoha did not get any sleep because of their little incident. But aside from that, it was a very peaceful night.

**10**

**Of enemies and teachers**

"You should rest, Kushina-san," Sakura told the red hair woman.

"Sakura, this is ridiculous! I might be pregnant, but I am most certainly not ill!" Kushina exclaimed pouting.

"Then at least let me do it!"

"I can do it myself, you know!"

"But you mustn't carry heavy things!"

"Geez, Sakura! You won't let go of this, will you?"

"No."

Kushina sighed while Minato was giggling as he put a hand on her shoulder.

"Why don't you let Sakura do the shopping today, Kushina?"

"Very well…do as you wish, pinky. But don't think that I will always do as you say, do you understand?" the red hair woman made her way back to the bedroom and shut the door behind her. She was definately pouting.

Minato put out some money of his wallet and gave it to Sakura smiling.

"I suppose you know where the store is. And you heard what we need, don't you?" he asked softly.

"Sure. Minato-sensei?" Sakura asked, as she took the money from him.

"Hmm?"

"Please make sure that Kushina-san rests…I don't like her pale white face."

Minato watched her curiously. Although she had not told him he was sure, she had been a medic ninja. Yesterday, when she and Kakashi nearly fought against each other, he saw her green chakra surrounding her hands and she saw things only a medic could see. Because of his conclusions, he was also very sure that Tsunade had taught her all of it.

"Don't worry about it, Sakura. I will look after her while you are gone," he smiled at her.

Smiling back, she turned around and made her way out of the house. Closing the front door behind her, she walked to the store next to the Yamanaka's flower shop. When she passed by the shop she laughed silently.

'At least there are some things that did not change… or will not change… damn! This whole past-future thing is confusing,' she thought.

While Sakura was buying all the things Minato, Kushina and herself needed for dinner and for tomorrow's meals, she felt the gazes of some villagers on her. Of course, she was somehow used to it, since this has happened for five days now. When she went to the Hokage's tower with Minato, she was the reason for new gossips. This was bad, as she did not want to draw that much attention to her.

Sakura sighed.

As soon as she was done in the store, she headed back to her current home; however, she stopped in her track, when a familiar boy stood a few feet away from her. She stared at the boy wondering what was going to happen next, but he did not start talking.

"What do you want?" she asked timidly.

Although he was just a little boy in that time, she could not help but being afraid of him for what he will do in a few years.

"You are in _his_ team," this was a sudden statement.

"You mean Minato-sensei's team?" she asked confused.

The boy just shook his head and continued. "You know, you will also be our enemy, when you join this team."

Sakura shuddered because of his cold eyes, which were watching her.

"Your enemy?"

"The enemy of the entire Uchiha Clan."

As he said that, he activated his Sharingan and locked her eyes on his. When the points started to circulate, Sakura could not move anymore. All of a sudden, she felt numb from head to toes. She did not have the strength to hold the shopping bags anymore. Therefore, she dropped them and sank to her knees. She could not see anything anymore.

"Stop that, Itachi!" another voice called out approaching the scene.

"Acting like a hero now, bastard?" Itachi said coolly. "Pretty late for that, isn't it? You could have done it two years prior."

Kakashi kneeled next to Sakura pulling up his forehead protector.

"Get lost, Itachi!" Kakashi hissed at the little boy.

When the silver hair guy picked Sakura up in his arms as well as her shopping bags, he turned around, but stopped in his tracks. In front of him stood his next problem.

"How dare you talk like that to my son?" the man asked with a serious, low voice.

"With all due respect, Fugaku-sama, but how I talk to Itachi is his and my business. And since he hurt my teammate, I will talk to him as I please!" Kakashi hissed.

"It is her fault," Fugaku narrowed his eyes.

"Her fault? She did not do anything! She was not even there two years ago! So don't punish her for something she hasn't done," the Copy Ninja lowered his voice dangerously.

"She is in your team," the man in front of him smirked evilly.

"And?"

"That alone is a crime and a reason for us to punish her," Itachi smirked too.

Kakashi growled and held the young kunoichi even tighter.

"Don't push me over the edge, Uchihas! If this happens ever again, I will personally hunt you down. And not even the Fourth will be able to stop me!"

With that Kakashi passed by Fugaku pushing him aside with his shoulder. Itachi and his father watched the silver hair guy walking away. Their eyes showed the only emotion what they had left for Kakashi. Hatred.

Kakashi was pissed. It was nothing new to him that the Uchiha Clan hated him since Obito's death, but that they even involved Sakura, a girl who didn't do anything to deserve that. He couldn't imagine that Itachi did that just because she was his teammate now. There must be something else.

As soon as Kakashi arrived at Minato's place, he knocked at the door with his foot since his arms were occupied. Minato opened the door.

"What happened?" he asked worried, when he saw that Sakura was unconscious.

"Uchiha," Kakashi said and his sensei immediately understood.

"Give me the shopping bags and then lay her down in her bed," the Hokage told him stepping aside.

Kakashi handed the bags over and then made his way to her room. He reached her bed, laid her down, and covered her with the blanket. He observed her for a moment and couldn't help but to feel sorry for her. After all, it was his fault that she had had to experience the Sharingan. Slowly he reached down and put a strand of hair out of her face. The sleeping girl must have felt the touch because she softly grabbed his hand and pulled it to her face as if it was a teddy bear, which she could snuggle with. Though it wasn't a big deal, he slightly blushed. As he kneeled down next to her bed -afraid he could wake her up, when he moved his hand away- Minato came into the room.

"If you don't mind keeping an eye on Sakura and Kushina for today, I would like to go to the Hokage tower for a few hours to do some work," the Fourth said.

Although Kakashi couldn't see him, he could hear the smirk in his Sensei's voice.

"Is Kushina-san ill?" the Copy Ninja asked.

"No, no. … Come to think of it… I haven't told you yet, have I?"

Kakashi turned his head to look at the Hokage curiously.

"Have told me what?"

"Kushina is pregnant," Minato smiled widely.

"Really?"

Minato nodded happily.

"Wow…congratulations!" Kakashi smiled too.

"Thank you, Kakashi," the Fourth said. "Well, I think I can entrust Sakura and Kushina with you."

Minato looked at Kakashi's hand next to Sakura's face and patted his student's shoulder.

"Do your best, Kakashi," he laughed quietly, which caused the boy to blush.

"Don't be ridiculous, Sensei."

Minato laughed at Kakashi's expression while he left. As soon as Kakashi was sure he had left the house, he looked back to Sakura. This girl caused so much trouble since she had arrived here. She was indeed a mystery to him, but only to him, it seemed. Minato knew the truth about her, but not Kakashi. This was something, which should piss Kakashi off, but in that moment, he didn't care. If even the Fourth trusted her, he would do the same.

"…sei," Sakura mumbled in her sleep.

Kakashi wondered what she was dreaming of. It must have been a lively dream.

"What did you say, Sakura?" Kakashi whispered against her ear.

"Kakashi-sensei, you talk too much…," she mumbled once again.

"Kakashi-sensei?" the Copy Ninja contemptuously repeated.

**11**

**My dream about you**

_Sakura was sitting in front of the memorial. While she was waiting for a certain shinobi, she read the names on it repeatedly, but she couldn't really see them. She tried again; however, it seemed as if it was written in a different language, which she did not even know._

"_Concentrating on something important, Sakura?" a familiar voice asked behind her._

_Turning around she looked up at the man she was waiting for._

"_You're late as always, Kakashi-sensei," she pouted._

_Kakashi gave her a soft smile. "Sorry, sorry. I just got lost on my way of life."_

_Sakura lowered her head and looked at the ground where she was still kneeling. _

"_Kakashi-sensei?"_

"_What is it, Sakura? Why do you make such a sad face?"_

"_I am sorry, Kakashi-sensei", she began. "for messing up my mission. You all believed in me, but I failed."_

"_Why do you think so?" he asked curiously sitting down next to her._

"_The Fourth…I told him everything about my mission, although I knew that I had had to keep it top secret," she apologized wholeheartedly._

"_Sakura, you have to know," Kakashi put an arm around her shoulder and she snuggled against his vest, "that everything has its reason. Maybe you had to tell him in order to succeed with the fox-part in your mission. Now that he knows that he will die soon, I doubt that he would waste his time without thinking about an alternative. I am sure you can do it, Sakura."_

"_Kakashi-sensei is right, Sakura-chan! We wouldn't have let you go, if we hadn't believed in you, believe it!"_

_Sakura looked up to see all her friends surrounding her and her sensei. In front of everyone, there was the noisy, blond boy who encouraged her just now. Right next to him was Sakura's mentor._

"_We all count on you, Sakura. Don't make me regret my choice!" Tsunade teased her._

_The pink hair kunoichi was touched by the words of her friends, so that the first tears began to fall soon. She immediately wiped them away, as Kakashi began talking._

"_See? There is no way you could mess up your mission with us supporting you."_

"_Thank you, everybody," her expression lightened up a bit. "but I am really lonely there. I do not know anybody…yet at least. I am all by myself."_

_Her small smile faded away as fast as it had appeared._

"_You will never be all by yourself, Sakura. I always will be there for you and watch over you, I promise," Kakashi smiled down at her._

"_And as soon as you will have finished this mission you can come home, Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned._

"_How?" the young girl next to the Copy Ninja asked._

"_Don't worry about that. You will come home no matter what," Tsunade smiled at her._

_Sakura nodded to her Mentor and then turned fully to Kakashi to give him a teasing glance._

"_Kakashi-sensei, you talk too much," she said with a smile spreading on her lips._

"_Why is that?" Kakashi asked amused._

"_You could have at least told me that Kushina hadn't known about the pregnancy back then! This caused me a lot of trouble! And also your famous lecture back at our first training as team 7!" She pouted again._

"_Sorry, sorry," Kakashi nervously stretched the back of his head. "didn't mean to get you in danger, Sakura…but you know…you really should stop talking now."_

_Sakura was confused about his sudden statement._

"_Why?"_

"_Or at least you should have stopped calling me 'Kakashi-sensei'," he continued. "This could cause you new trouble with me."_

"_New trouble…with you? What are you talking about, Kakashi-sensei?"_

"SAKURA!" Kakashi shouted shaking her a little bit with his hands on each side of her shoulders. "Wake up!"

All of a sudden, Sakura's eyes shot open and before she could realize what was happening, she sat up with such a quick movement that Kakashi had no chance to withdraw. Before he knew it, their foreheads had crashed against each other.

"OW!" both of them shouted in pain because of the crash.

Sakura fell back in her pillow while Kakashi fell off the bed. Both of them whined a little, before Sakura sat up once again with her forehead in her left hand. Kakashi did the same.

"Ow," he said rubbing his forehead with the tips of his fingers in order to ease the pain. "you sure have a hell of a forehead!"

"What happened…?" Sakura asked startled and confused.

"Don't you remember? You went shopping and then Itachi showed up and he used his Sharingan," Kakashi explain standing up from the ground.

"I know what happened there!" she hissed slightly annoyed.

"Then why do you ask?" Kakashi was also a little pissed.

He wondered why it had been possible for the pink hair girl to be so adorable in her sleep, but then again so damn annoying, when she was awake. It was confusing for him. In one moment, Kakashi was considering her a new friend and in the next moment, she ruined everything with her temper.

"What I meant is: Why did you wake me up? I had a really nice dream!" Sakura griped.

Kakashi snorted. "Yes, I can imagine that. Maybe you enjoy yourself by even humiliating me in your sleep!"

"Humiliating you? What the hell are you talking about, Kakashi?" Sakura's temper was getting the upper hand.

"So now it is 'Kakashi'? A minute ago you called me Kakashi-**sensei**," he hissed.

Silence. Sakura stared at the masked Ninja in front of her not believing that she had seemed to be talking in her sleep.

'Great! Why can't I at least keep my mouth shut in my sleep?' Sakura cursed her big mouth.

"Oh…that. You see, Kakashi…I wasn't talking about you," Sakura lowered her head and slightly blushed.

"You weren't?" he curiously raised one eyebrow.

"No…I dreamt about my Sensei. He has the same name as you have…Kakashi. That's why I had said his name."

Still blushing.

…

…

After a long uncomfortable -at least for Sakura- silence, Kakashi broke it.

"Are you in love with him?" he asked suspiciously.

Sakura's head shot up burning in embarrassment.

"NO! Of course, I am not! Why would you think that?" she could feel the heat rising in her body.

Kakashi shifted his weight from his left leg to his right while putting his hands in his pockets. He shrugged with his shoulders.

"First, you are blushing in five shades of red. Second, in your sleep you called his name like you were all lovey dovey with him," he was annoyed again.

Now that he knew it had not been him, she was dreaming of, he was … disappointed? This was also confusing. First, he felt humiliated because he thought that it had been him Sakura had called 'Kakashi-sensei', and now he was disappointed because she hadn't dreamed of him. He eyed her waiting for an answer.

Sakura waved a hand to the end of the bed to tell Kakashi to take a seat there. As he sat down next to her feet, he turned his head to look at her again.

"My Sensei was one of the nicest people I ever knew. Although there were many things about him, which annoyed the hell out of me, I just realized how much I miss these things now that he is gone. Moreover, not only he…my teammate was always saying such stupid things and he always wanted to eat Ramen…always. Although they annoyed me too, I miss them now that he is also gone," Sakura faked a smile and looked at Kakashi. "I am a stranger here, Kakashi. Yet I am not. You are a stranger to me. And yet you are not…"

Kakashi waited for her to go on.

"The dream I just had…all of my friends were there and were encouraging me. I think I just wished to see them again. Especially Kakashi-sensei," she told him.

Kakashi gritted his teeth.

"Don't misunderstand me, Kakashi. I don't like him that way…he was just a good friend who always gave us advises, when we -my teammate and me- went through hard times."

"I see," Kakashi lowered his head ashamed about his feelings.

He couldn't believe that he was being jealous of an obvious dead man. Her Sensei nonetheless. The silver-haired boy felt at ease now.

"That's why I was mad at you, when you woke me up earlier. I didn't want that dream to vanish," she mumbled.

"I thought that this was some kind of joke you played on me for paying me back for the other night," Kakashi blushed.

"Speaking of the other night," she growled dangerously.

Kakashi was startled by her sudden change of the atmosphere.

"Kakashi…would you be so kind and explain to me why you were on top of me, as you woke me up?" Sakura used her sweetest voice, which made it sound only more dangerous.

He gulped sweat dropping.

"Ah…you see…as you wouldn't wake up…I thought…eh," he quickly tried to find an excuse.

He would never admit the real reason why he had climbed up her bed on top of her. He just wanted to get a closer look. He had never seen a girl sleeping so peacefully in her bed after all. And…well, he was just a guy after all.

~ 2 hours later~

"I'm home!" Minato called from the front door.

Just when he slipped out of his shoes, Kakashi approached him holding an ice pack to his swollen cheek.

"You messed up, didn't you?" the Fourth asked grinning at him.

"You have no idea," Kakashi said wincing at the pain in his cheek.

**12**

**This is the plan**

Two months have already passed since Sakura had appeared in this time. Two months of training with the Fourth himself and with her future sensei. Two months of pretending, everything was right, while it wasn't at all. Two months of living like she had before. Two months of wasting time.

Sakura stood in front of the Hokage's office and knocked at the door.

"Come in, Sakura," Minato called from inside.

Slowly she opened the door and entered the room. Minato was sitting behind his desk working through some files and reports of a few shinobi. Closing the door behind her Sakura approached the desk and sat down on the chair, when the Hokage waved a hand to it.

"What can I do for you?" he smiled gently at her leaning back in his chair.

"Well," she nervously bit her lip, "it has already been two months, Minato-sensei."

Minato's smile faded and his expression got serious.

"The Kyuubi?" he asked.

Sakura nodded weakly.

"I know I promised you that I would come up with a solution, but I can't think of something," she said the words so fast that the Hokage had to concentrate in order to understand her.

"Sakura, do you really think I would just relax and let you do all the work?" He got up from his chair and looked out of the window. "I have an idea how to make this…easier," with the last word, he frowned a bit.

"How?" Sakura was relieved that there seemed to be something, which could make this easier.

"I know that I promised you that I would tell nobody about you and your mission and believe me that I will tell nobody about you, but," he paused.

Sakura waited a few seconds for him to go on, however, when he did not she asked,

"But what?"

Minato sighed and turned around to face her.

"Sakura, you told me you were an excellent student," Sakura raised an eyebrow by the sudden change of the topic. "and when you passed the exams you had studied for them. So if you had not studied you would have failed."

Sakura understood what he was talking about.

"You want to tell everybody what will happen in about four months?" she gasped.

"I want to tell only the shinobi of Konoha. Don't worry, I won't tell them that you came from the future, but that you came to warn me."

Minato went around the desk and stopped in front of Sakura to lean against the desk.

"But they will ask how I know about this," her voice sounded disappointed.

"I know…and we will tell them how," he smirked.

Sakura eyed him suspiciously.

"And what do you have in mind?"

Right at that moment there was a knock on the door. Sakura turned around to see who was coming in. As a tall white-haired man entered, she gasped in surprise.

"Jiraya-sama!" Sakura jumped out of her chair.

Jiraya froze in the doorframe but when he saw Minato smiling at him, he stepped inside and closed the door again behind him. When he approached the girl in front of him, he smiled too.

"You must be Sakura," he said.

With that, Sakura remembered that he couldn't possibly know her yet, so she quickly bowed her head.

"Yes, my name is Sakura Hanuro. Nice to meet you."

Minato couldn't help but chuckle at her behavior.

"Don't worry Sakura. He knows your secret…I told him."

Sakura turned around to look at the Hokage - her eyes narrowed.

"Although you promised me?"

"Well," Minato looked away. "I promised you I wouldn't tell anybody in Konoha…Jiraya hasn't been in Konoha since last year and only returned today in the morning."

Sakura frowned sitting down on her chair again. "I guess that's what you said."

The Hokage giggled and went back to his chair too, while waving a hand to the chair next to Sakura to tell Jiraya to sit down, too.

"Will you tell me now what Jiraya-sama has to do with all this? No offense, Jiraya-sama," she said apologizing to the white haired man who simply smiled at her.

"He is part of my plan. We tell the leaf shinobi that you have been on a mission with him for a year -after your parents had died. When you two heard of the demon fox and that somebody who controls him wants to destroy Konoha," he looked to Jiraya, "you sent Sakura back to Konoha, so that she could warn me…that was two months ago."

"That's not very convincing, Sensei," Sakura said. "How do we explain that nobody knows me?"

"You lived with your parents in a small village outside of Konoha because they were on a mission, which the Third had given them, until they had died," Minato explained.

"Minato…you know that nobody is able to control the tailed demons," Jiraya said seriously.

With that sentence, Sakura remembered Akatsuki. They wanted the tailed demons and even almost reached their goal. They only needed the Kyuubi to complete their collection, so that means there had to be a person in Akatsuki who was able to control the demons. There was only one person Sakura could think of.

"Uchiha Madara," she whispered.

Jiraya and Minato looked at her surprised.

"Uchiha Madara?" Minato asked.

"He could be able to control the Kyuubi," she explained.

"Sakura, Uchiha Madara is dead," Jiraya told her.

She just shook her head from left to right. "No, he is not…He is a member of Akatsuki."

The Hokage's and Jiraya's eyes narrowed.

"The Uchiha Madara who fought against the first Hokage is a member of the group who destroyed Konoha?" Minato asked.

"How do you know this, Sakura?" Jiraya wanted to know.

When Sakura told both of them about the mission with the rookies of Konoha who were to find Sasuke with Kakashi and Yamato. Since the Copy Ninja had seen the Sharingan under the orange mask of Tobi, he had concluded that it could only be Uchiha Madara, since there had already been some rumors that he was still alive.

After Sakura had finished, Minato and Jiraya were deep in thoughts, before the older man broke the silence.

"What do you think? Is it possible?" Jiraya whispered.

"After all what I have heard in the past two months, I would believe everything," the blond man said.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Let's continue later," Minato said to Jiraya and Sakura before he called to the person behind the door. "Come in, Kakashi"

Kakashi came in and was about to say something, but when he saw the Sanin, he bowed his head just as Sakura had done earlier.

"Jiraya-sama," he greeted.

"Kakashi," the white haired man got up and went to the Copy Ninja to ruffle his hair. "You haven't changed much since last year," the Sanin said smiling.

"Thanks," Kakashi said slightly annoyed by Jiraya's action. "and you look a year older."

"Nice as always, aren't you Kakashi," Jiraya stopped the ruffling and smiled at him evilly just to receive an evil smile by the boy, too.

The staring duel lasted another two minutes before the Hokage cleared his throat.

"Kakashi? Did you need something?" he asked.

Finally, Kakashi looked away from Jiraya to Sakura who had watched the whole scene suppressing a smile. She couldn't believe that Kakashi -the person who adores Jiraya's books- didn't seem to like the Sanin very much.

"Yes…actually, I wanted to know if you were hungry. I was about to go and eat something and I thought that…maybe," he felt like an idiot asking her out in front of his Sensei and a perverted old man.

Sakura smiled and stepped forward grinning.

"Are you asking me out?" She asked amused.

"If you want to call it that," Kakashi blushed deeply.

Sakura turned her head to face Minato. "Is this alright?"

The Hokage gave her a warm smile and nodded.

After Kakashi and Sakura had left the office, Minato sighed. Jiraya nodded understanding what was going on.

"This will be complicated," he shook his head in disbelief.

"Yes…I wonder how Kakashi will react," the sad tone of the Hokage echoed in the room.

Time is a mysterious thing. Moreover, to play with it can be very dangerous. However, isn't there a saying that love can win over each obstacle? So shouldn't it be possible to win over time? Nevertheless, you have to know that time has its constant attendant, who can't be circumvented: Fate.

This time wasn't Sakura's time.

**13**

**Telling everyone**

"There is a certain reason why I ordered you here," the Yellow Flash announced while looking the ninjas in the first line in the eyes - one by one.

Each shinobi of Konoha had been ordered to the roof of the Hokage tower. About 300 ninja were gathered and stood there in 15 lines. In front of them, the Hokage spoke to them flanked by Sakura and Kakashi. Kakashi because he was his student - his 'real' student - and Sakura because this assembly was because of her without anybody knowing - yet.

As Minato - dressed in his Hokage uniform, which was slightly unusual for him - began to pace back and forth measuring his words before saying them aloud, some shinobi got a little restive.

"Did something happen, Hokage-sama?" the younger version of Iruka asked from the second line.

Minato just continued pacing around as if he didn't hear him.

Kakashi, who was confused by his sensei's behavior because normally he wasn't the type of person who would has to measure his words, looked to Sakura to see if she knew what this was about. When he saw her gaze at the Hokage, he immediately realized that she did know.

"Sakura," he called her in a low whisper.

As soon as her eyes were locked with his, he continued. "What's this about?"

The young kunoichi was aware of the fact that she wouldn't be able to find a plausible excuse this time. "You'll see."

Puzzled by her answer Kakashi looked back to his sensei who had stopped pacing and had his back to them in order to face everyone else.

"As you all know," Minato annunciated. "this girl appeared two and a half months ago out of nowhere," he waved Sakura forward.

Stepping forward Sakura received several evil glances from certain shinobis who stared at her with those familiar red eyes, which were very scary, except it was Kakashi activating this eye.

Before she could be carried away by her thoughts, Minato interrupted them.

"We all were confused and I was admittedly scared of her," he smiled warmly at Sakura with that sentence. "but not long ago she came to me and told me everything."

He paused dramatically before proceeding with the story.

"16 years ago the Third sent her parents away to go on a mission in Waterfall. About one year ago, they were killed while carrying out their duty in order to succeed with their mission. Before that had happened, they entrusted their daughter with Jiraya who happened to pass by at the right time. He wanted to bring her back to Konoha, however-," he was interrupted.

"My pardon, Hokage-sama, but what does the story of this brat have to do with this assembly?" Fugaku Uchiha said disparagingly.

Minato didn't miss the murderous glance of Konoha's police officer.

"If you let me finish, Fugaku-san, I would come to the important part," Minato declared. "As I said…Jiraya wanted to bring Sakura back to Konoha, however on their way home, they came across a complot. I can't expound the details about that complot right now, but in order to warn me - to warn Konoha about this, Jiraya sent Sakura back here with the teleporting jutsu. Jiraya on the contrary was determined to find out more about this plotting and remained where they had come across it. Since Sakura didn't want to tell me anything before Jiraya returned, she remained silent about what happened. Two weeks ago the Sanin arrived here and brought me all of the information we need to defend our village properly, when the time comes."

Silence.

…

Still silence.

…

No one dared to move. After a few minutes of motionlessness and hush, a tumult erupted from the agitated ninjas. It was a clutter of statements and questions, but there was no chance you could understand something.

"Calm down!" the Hokage shouted to silent the crowd.

"What complot is that you were talking about?" a voice among the 300 ninjas asked.

"According to Jiraya…the Kyuubi will attack our village in about four months," the Yellow Flash's eyes wandered from one shinobi to another.

"The Kyuubi?" Fugaku asked unbelievingly.

"Yes, Fugaku-san. The nine-tailed fox." Minato affirmed.

"That's bullshit!" Fugaku hissed.

"But Minato-sensei, you said that there was a complot. Are you saying that the Kyuubi is the complot?" Kakashi asked stepping forward to stand beside his sensei.

"Yes, in a way you could say that."

"Oh really? Therefore, the Kyuubi decided to destroy Konoha in exactly four months…clever! Moreover, why would you know the deadline? Wait! I know why! The Kyuubi told Jiraya at the coffee party! Or did it left its tickler behind?" Fugaku's voice bristled with sarcasm.

"Save your sarcasm for someone who wants to hear it, Fugaku-san!" Minato growled. "No one forces you to believe what I said."

The Uchiha remained silent this time.

"Good," the Hokage faked a smile and then turned to everybody once again. "As far as Jiraya told me, there is a group of S-rank missing ninjas, who want to control the tailed beasts. One person of the group is apparently able to control them and will lead the Kyuubi to Konoha…four months from now. My plan is to evacuate every civilian to Waterfall three and a half months from now in order to protect them from the demon fox's destructiveness. However, no one will tell them why they are evacuated! That's an order of the Hokage!"

"What? You want us to lie to our families?" a ninja from the last lines asked.

"Do you want your family to worry about you while they are gone or do you want them to live peacefully during the two weeks they will be in Waterfall?" the Hokage backfired.

"Fine. But how can we defeat the demon fox?" another shinobi asked.

"I am currently working on a strategy. I will let you know as soon as I worked through it," Minato announced.

Sakura looked up to him to read his expression, but there was absolutely no concern in his face. She knew exactly what he was planning.

History slowly started repeating itself.

Kakashi, Sakura, and Minato were on their way home. Sakura noticed that she hurt Kakashi by not telling him anything. He didn't bother to look at her after the assembly- not even once.

"Kakashi, I-," she started.

"Don't, Sakura. I understand!" but his tone made it clear that he didn't understand at all.

"Please, let me explain-"

"Sakura! It's alright!" he hissed.

"No. It's not," she felt rueful.

Sakura couldn't believe that the Copy Ninja made her feel that way. She actually had a guilty conscience! Who was that silver-haired guy to make her feel that way?

It was only Kakashi! The Copy Ninja. Her teammate-

"I am sorry, Kakashi," Sakura stopped walking and looked to the ground.

"I think you two can handle this alone. See you later," Minato waved a hand grinning over the two lovebirds, before he disappeared with a 'puff'.

Kakashi was now standing with his back turned to Sakura about three meters away from her.

Slowly Sakura lifted her head and regarded her teammate - her future sensei. From behind, he looked exactly the way he would in 16 years from now. His hairstyle wouldn't change a bit. She almost had to laugh at her thoughts. Almost.

Instead, tears were forming in her eyes. The longer she looked at Kakashi the more tears formed until they rolled over her cheeks. At first, she couldn't explain why she was that sad, but as she kept staring at his back, she realized.

"I can't tell you the truth, Kakashi," her voice was shaky and although Kakashi noticed that he didn't turn around.

"What are you talking about, Sakura? Minato told everybody -including me- the truth about you."

"I know that you know that this wasn't the truth!" she shouted through her sobs.

"Then tell me the truth, damn it!" he shouted back at her turning around to see that her eyes were already red and her face wet.

"Why do you make such a fuss anyway, Kakashi? Why do you care about what I say or do so much?"

"Because you are my teammate!" he stomped towards her until their faces were only inches away from each other.

"You know exactly that this is not the only reason! Why are you such a coward and don't admit it?"

All of a sudden, it started to rain and the two ninjas were soaking wet after a few seconds.

"What should I admit, Sakura?"

"That you have feelings for me, you damn idiot!" Sakura was sure that she wouldn't have any voice left on the next day.

"Why would I say that, if you didn't love me too?"

"Who said I didn't love you?"

"Why didn't you tell me, then?" Kakashi's throat was getting sore because of all that screaming.

"Because you didn't tell me!"

"Then why don't you tell me now?"

"Because you already know that I LOVE YOU!"

That was all he needed to hear to end their 'conversation' by pulling down his mask with his left hand and pulling Sakura closer to him with his right hand. It hadn't even taken him a second to do all this before his lips lay on hers and he kissed her tenderly.

Although it was only a kiss, Sakura melted in Kakashi's arms. Closing her eyes, she totally gave in. She immediately forgot about their stupid discussion and let her happy feelings overwhelm her.

There was nothing in the world, which could end that moment.

"AAAAAAHHHH!"

Sakura and Kakashi pushed slightly away from each other as soon as they heard that scream which was apparently a woman's scream.

"Shall we?" Kakashi asked smiling while putting his mask back up.

Sakura nodded and then they ran to where the scream came from. Stopping in an alley, they saw a woman lying on the ground panting heavily.

Sakura was immediately in medic mode and asked approaching her:

"What happened?" as Sakura sat next to her she recognized the woman and gasped, but the heavy rain drowned the sound.

'Mom?' Sakura thought.

"My - my baby…you have to help me- my baby is coming," the woman winced.

Sakura looked down and noticed that the woman was pregnant. Her mother was about to give birth to Haruno Sakura with the help of … Haruno Sakura.

**14**

**I helped my mother giving birth to me**

"What happened?" a nurse in the hospital asked alarmed by the blood Sakura's mother, Nadeshiko, was covered with.

Kakashi was carrying her and Sakura stabilized her head in his arms, as they came running through the hospital entrance.

"She stumbled in an alley what caused the first labors! And now she is more or less unconscious!" Sakura explained in a hurry.

"What intervals are the labors coming at?" the nurse asked while she showed them the way to the delivery ward.

"At less than 3 minutes intervals," Sakura breathed out.

"Out of the way! We have an emergency! And call a midwife to the delivery ward!" the nurse shouted to another one who stood in the corridor checking some files.

"It would be to long till a midwife would finally make it here! I will play that role now!"

The nurse just stared at Sakura opening the door to the delivery room. Kakashi rushed inside with Nadeshiko wincing in his arms, and Sakura right next to them.

"Girlie, you did a great job until now, but there is no way-"

Sakura didn't give her the chance to finish her sentence, as she snapped at her. "I am more capable as any other medic you have in this house!"

Kakashi laid Nadeshiko down on the bed and stepped aside to vacate some space for his medic girlfriend.

"You can't do this! I will call the Hokage! I will-" the nurse hurried over to stay in her way, so that Sakura wasn't able to do anything.

"Kakashi," Sakura growled.

The Copy Ninja understood what she wanted him to do and dragged the loud woman out of the room hissing.

"She knows what she is doing!"

With that, Sakura was alone in the delivery room and quickly rushed to the head of her mother and tried to calm her down and told her to breathe in deeply before breathing out. Nadeshiko looked like she was about to fall asleep, so Sakura asked her some questions to keep her conscious.

All of a sudden, her mother cried out.

"This is enough! She might kill her!" the nurse struggled against Kakashi's firm grip hearing the heartbreaking cry from the other side of that door.

Although he was just a kid compared to her, she couldn't break free.

"Let go of me, you brat!"

"I will let you go, but only if you promise to not interfere! Otherwise the pregnant woman will really die if you interrupt Sakura's concentration!" Kakashi threatened.

"Fine!" she hissed.

Kakashi loosened his grip around her stomach a bit and with that, she broke free. Rushing down the corridor, where they came from a few minutes ago, she ran into a doctor, whom she seemed to tell what was going on, before running away again.

Kakashi sighed heavily.

"Nadeshiko! I need you to listen to me now! Your labors are coming at 60 seconds intervals now! As soon as I tell you to push, you have to push hard, alright. But not too hard…only when I tell you the second time to push you need to push as hard as possible!" Sakura explained her as she placed herself between her legs pushing the dress up to her mother's stomach.

Her mother was lucky that she wore a dress today…that saved a lot of work.

"Ready?" Sakura asked.

Nadeshiko panted heavily, but managed to nod.

"Okay, push!"

"Kakashi!" Minato called from the other end of the corridor approaching the silver hair guy who sat on one of the three chairs opposite to the delivery room waiting for his girlfriend and keeping everyone away who wanted to enter the room.

As Kakashi heard this familiar voice, he stood up and turned to his sensei.

'Jeez, they really called for him,' he sighed.

"Kakashi, would you be so kind and tell me what is going on? The only thing I know is that you got a nurse and a doc really angry- almost hysteric," the Yellow Flash said as soon as he stood in front of Kakashi.

Wasting no time, Kakashi described the situation. He told Minato what happened after he had left them alone on the street and how they found that woman in this narrow alley. He also explained what Sakura had been doing since they brought Nadeshiko here.

"Wait…that woman…what is her name?" Minato asked since Kakashi always called her 'that woman'.

The Copy Ninja only shrugged. "I don't know."

"How does she look li-," Minato's question was drowned by the cry of a baby.

"It's a girl," Sakura smiled at her mother wrapping the little Sakura in a pink towel and gave her to Nadeshiko, who was really worn out now.

Tears of joy were running down Nadeshiko's cheeks, as she held her little princess in her arms for the first time. The happiness in this room was so overwhelming that you weren't able to say who was happier - Nadeshiko or Sakura.

Nadeshiko was happy because her first (only) child was born, but Sakura was happy because of a different reason. It was March the 27th. But her birthday was March the 28th. Her birth was a couple of hours too early, but that meant that nothing in the future would happen like they had already done. History couldn't repeat itself anymore - at least not exactly.

**15**

**The past has already been changed**

"Sensei," Kakashi whined. "she has been like this for a couple of hours now. She must have gone into some kind of shock!"

Kakashi was pacing back and forth in front of Sakura - who sat in a chair in Minato's kitchen - regarding her worriedly each second. Minato on the opposite was as calm as ever sitting also in a chair two meters away from Sakura so that there was enough space for Kakashi's pacing between them.

"Kakashi, calm down. She hasn't gone into shock or something like that," he sighed looking at Kakashi.

"But…look at her! She hasn't moved since we dragged her out of the hospital," the Copy Ninja got impatient by the second - but still worried.

Sakura sat there in her chair not moving…not speaking…only looking at the ground. There hadn't been any reaction from her, even as the Hokage and Kakashi had carried her out of the hospital after she had collapsed next to Nadeshiko and her baby. Although Sakura wasn't unconscious, her current condition was not really different to unconsciousness - according to Kakashi.

Minato sighed again grabbing another chair behind him and pulling him next to his.

"Sit down, Kakashi…your pacing makes me nervous, too," the Fourth pointed to the chair next to him.

Without stopping Kakashi stepped to that very chair and sat down on him always looking at Sakura. A few minutes there wasn't even a sound in that room until the silver hair guy tapped his foot on the floor with each second that passed by.

"Kakashi," Minato said coolly.

"Sorry," Kakashi stopped the tapping.

He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his hair…always looking at Sakura. After a few more minutes had passed he started tapping his fingers on his arm. Minato sighed again.

"She still isn't better?" Kushina asked approaching Minato and Kakashi from behind rubbing her eyes dozy.

"No," the two men answered - one with a smile on his face and the other with the most worrying expression Kushina has ever seen. You probably could assume Sakura was dying according to that face.

"Maybe you should slap her across the face. In movies and books that always works," Kushina suggested missing Kakashi's glare.

Minato considered this idea for a while before he got up and walked to Sakura to kneel in front of her.

"Sensei! You mustn't," but Kakashi stopped his threatening as he saw that the Fourth was only waving one hand in front of Sakura's eyes. "Huh. For one second I thought you were really going to slap-"

SLAP!

"Sensei!" Kakashi jumped from his chair and was about to push Minato away from Sakura, but the Yondaime simply raised a hand to stop Kakashi in his tracks.

"I didn't hit her hard enough that it could hurt her," he explained shortly.

Kakashi knelt down next to his girlfriend not quite convinced by what Minato told him.

"Sakura? Are you okay?" since nobody reckoned with an answer from her, they were surprised, when they heard her mumbling something.

"What was that, Sakura? I didn't hear," Kakashi said relieved that she spoke again.

"…mother…to me…I…helping…," these were the only words Kakashi could hear due to his extraordinary faculty of hearing.

"Could you understand what she had said?" Minato asked looking at Kakashi.

"She said: Mother- to me- I- helping…at least that's what I heard, however it doesn't make sense," the Copy Ninja frowned.

"Maybe she's lost it," Kushina assumed.

Kakashi growled at her statement, but Minato stopped the upcoming discussion between his pregnant wife and his student. "Kakashi, I need you to get something for Sakura."

"What is it?"

"Go to the pharmacy and get a eucalyptus cream, a hot - water bottle, and a bolster, so that we can help her relax."

Kakashi nodded quickly and ran out of the house to the pharmacy.

As soon as Minato noticed the bewildered look in Kushina's face, he explained. "I just wanted him out of the house, but I knew that he wouldn't leave her side unless he would do something to help her feel better."

"As smart as ever…well, I assume you don't need me here…I will go back to bed now," Kushina gave Minato a warm smile and returned to their bedroom.

Minato looked up to Sakura, who was still mumbling something, and began to talk: "Sakura, I know that something happened in the hospital today and I am pretty sure what happened and why you are behaving like this," he observed each reaction from Sakura as he spoke. "That woman, Nadeshiko…she's your mother, isn't she?"

Sakura's head shot up.

"It's not like you think," Sakura tried to explain.

"Don't worry, Sakura. I know that this must feel very weird…I mean, to deliver yourself and all that-"

"No, you don't understand…well, okay it felt weird…you see, when I saw my mother in that alley and hearing her begging me to help her, everything got blurry then. I couldn't think straight…the only thought that crossed my mind was that that baby inside her was me, but I was standing in front of mom. I was at two places at the same time…I am even now. And as we - mom and me - were in that room and she was having these heavy labors, I touched her belly to see if I lay right in there…and I felt me kicking myself…I felt as if all this was some kind of fantasy film," Sakura started to laugh, although tears were forming in her eyes. "But then it hit me…today's March, 27th!"

Minato watched her confused by the sudden change of subjects.

"My birthday isn't March the 27th but the 28th! The Sakura Haruno in this time is different from me…I mean me 16 years from now. The past is already changing bit by bit. That means that from now on nothing will happen like it had already happened…or will happen…anyway- it means that I really can change the past! I can hinder the nine-tailed fox from destroying Konoha and maybe that fact will change the massacre of the Uchiha clan, too! And then Itachi Uchiha won't join Akatsuki and Sasuke won't take revenge on him and he won't lead Akatsuki to Konoha in order to take revenge on the Elders because they won't have ordered Itachi to kill his entire clan and-"

All of a sudden, Minato put two of his fingers on her lips to silent her.

"I think that was enough information for one evening," he smiled warmly at her. "For now, let's just focus on the demon fox, alright?"

Sakura simply nodded realizing what she had just done. In her euphoria, she had told him everything!

As soon as he removed his fingers from her mouth, she looked at him intensively.

"What is it?" he asked her.

"Well…I only now noticed, but how the hell did you know that Nadeshiko is my mother?" she asked curiously.

He grinned as if he had just found out the greatest mystery in the history of Konoha.

"As I saw Nadeshiko lay there in bed, I had to think of your 'second name'…You once introduced yourself as 'Sakura Hanuro'…at that moment I knew you are Sakura Haruno, the daughter of Nadeshiko and Arashi Haruno…of course you have his eyes and your mother's features, so it wasn't really hard to figure out."

"Huh. Then I was lucky mom didn't recognize me," Sakura pouted.

"Don't worry, Sakura…no one will recognize you as the Haruno's daughter. I mean, who on earth would believe in something like time traveling?" he winked at her with one eye.

Both of them laughed softly, until Sakura stopped all of a sudden and glared at Minato.

"Did you have to slap me earlier?"

"Hey, hey it wasn't my idea," Minato held his hands in front of him defensively.

In a twinkling of an eye, the front door flew open and Kakashi came in with four bags in his hands.

"Kakashi?" Sakura asked confused.

When Kakashi heard her sweet voice, he dropped all the bags and ran towards the pink hair girl.

"Sakura!" he exclaimed with a sparkling eye wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her to his chest. "You alright?"

"Yes - I am sorry that I made you worried," she said wholeheartedly hugging him, too.

"It doesn't matter as long as you are fine now," he whispered in her ear.

"Jeez, Kakashi! You were supposed to bring one eucalyptus cream, one hot-water bottle and one bolster…and not a thousand of each!" Minato laughed softly, as he picked up the bags and shut the front door.

"Have you ever been to a pharmacy? They have at least a million things there and since I didn't know which kind of eucalyptus cream, hot-water bottle or bolster, I took a few of each", Kakashi frowned still holding Sakura in his arms.

Slowly the kunoichi released the Copy Ninja and looked up to him smiling.

"I am kind of tired…I think I'll go to bed now."

Sakura placed a light kiss on Kakashi's masked lips and waved at Minato before heading for her room. Minato poked Kakashi on his back.

"Go for it, Kakashi! Now or never!"

Kakashi blushed and then babbled, "S-Sa-Sakura…"

Sakura turned around to see her boyfriend blushing furiously while Minato pretended to be extremely busy with the bags Kakashi had brought back.

"What is it, Kakashi?" she asked.

"D-Do you want to … eh …c-come with m-me? To my p-place, I mean?"

"Sure," Sakura simply answered smiling warmly at him. "Is that okay, Sensei?"

Minato looked up and noticed that Sakura had no idea what Kakashi was actually asking her.

"You don't need my permission, Sakura," he laughed and then turned to Kakashi. "Have fun!"

Kakashi's blush deepened, but Sakura didn't get it. Poor Kakashi. He gathered all his courage and asked her **the **question and she didn't understand what he wanted from her. Maybe Kakashi should ask her directly at his place. Alternatively, he should wait until she gets it on her own and until then it would be better to stick to the status quo…probably.

**16**

**The night I spent with my future sensei**

"Are you okay? You have been awfully quiet for the last two days," Minato commented during lunch.

Kushina, Sakura, and the Fourth sat in the dining room eating their meals together. This was rare that Minato had time to come home for lunch, even Sakura could tell this much, since she has been staying with them for almost four months now. Well, at least she has been staying with them most of the time, but as soon as there was an opportunity, she had stayed with her Copy Ninja. But this wasn't possible now, as he had been on a mission for two weeks.

"Have I? Don't worry, I am fine," Sakura told him faking a smile.

"You worry about Kakashi, don't you?" Kushina asked with a matter of fact tone.

Sakura looked at her plate in front of her as if she had just been caught stealing the cookies out of the cupboard. Kushina smirked.

"You really don't have to worry, Sakura. Kakashi is a Jonin and very experienced. He will come home safe and sound soon," Minato told her with his famous 'everything's-going-to-be-alright-smile'.

"I know," Sakura mumbled.

She really did know that. She wouldn't have had Kakashi as her sensei, if he had died on a mission. Although she knew that there was no chance he would die in that time, she couldn't help but to worry about her boyfriend.

"I am really glad and grateful that you are here, Sakura. Thanks to you, Kakashi has changed. I have never seen him this happy before, but every time he is with you, I can see something in his eyes, which had never been there before. Ever since Obito and Rin had died, he closed his mind and got depressed. Then…you showed up and he opened up little by little. I didn't think I would see the day Kakashi Hatake would fall in love with someone," Minato smiled brightly at the pink hair girl in front of him.

Sakura blushed deeply and said shyly. "I also love him; however, it feels kind of strange."

"Why is that?" Kushina asked curiously.

"Well, Kakashi is my Sensei."

"No, he is not. Not yet, at least," Minato frowned.

"But he will be," Sakura whispered.

"Not as long as I am Hokage," the Fourth smiled.

This time Sakura frowned.

"Sakura, I think you don't understand…this time isn't yours. The things you have experienced haven't happened yet. The Copy Ninja you once have known as your teacher doesn't exist here. Right now, Kakashi is a teenage guy, who has fallen in love with you...and you love him as well. That is all that matters for now."

A light flush was visible on Sakura's cheek, as she nodded also smiling.

"Young love…this is so cute…and innocent," Kushina sighed.

Sakura merely looked at Kushina before answering, "It's not as innocent as you think."

The red haired woman's eyes widened at the girl's comment.

"Y-you have already-?"

The light flush on Sakura's face turned into a deep blush. Glancing at Minato, she shifted uncomfortably on her chair. The Hokage looked at her not understanding why she wouldn't answer to Kushina's question.

"Geez, don't you get it, Minato? She won't tell anything as long as you are sitting here with us!" Kushina said impatiently.

"Why not?" he was confused.

"You are a man," Kushina told him matter of factly.

"And?"

"Out! Now!" she hissed darkly.

"Okay, okay. If you need me…I am in the bedroom taking a nap."

Minato knew better than to struggle with his girlfriend. First, her fist can cause much, much, much damage…and second she was pregnant and with her being in the sixth month…well, it is obvious that it wouldn't be good for the baby, too.

After Minato had left the two girls alone, Kushina started with her questions.

"When did it happen?"

"Eh-"

"Wait! Tell me everything! From the very beginning, when you first went to Kakashi's place," Sakura didn't miss the excitement in Kushina's eyes.

"A-alright," the young girl began to talk.

~*~ flashback ~*~

_Kakashi opened the door to his apartment and let Sakura step in first. He couldn't deny the fact that his heart was racing inside his chest. But it still seemed, as if he was the only one who had been nervous. _

_Sakura entered and took off her shoes while Kakashi was locking his door._

"_Sit down on the sofa, Sakura, while I make us some tea," he tried to sound self-confident. He tried._

_He showed her the way along the short corridor into his living room, which was directly connected with the kitchen. There was only a sliding door separating them._

_Sakura sat down on the sofa as she was told and looked around the unfamiliar room._

"_You have a nice apartment, Kakashi," she said honestly._

"_Thank you."_

_It wasn't at all like she had imagined. She didn't think that Kakashi would have a sense for accommodations, but obviously, she was wrong. Everything he had in his living room fit in here and Sakura was sure that it had been the same in the other rooms._

_Her gaze wandered around the room, but lingered on a picture at the wall. She recognized two of the four people shown on it. There were three children - one of them was Kakashi - and behind them was Minato, but she didn't know the other two kids. According to Minato that must be-_

"_They were the other two members of our team…Obito and Rin." Kakashi handed Sakura her cup of tea smiling down at her._

_As Sakura took her cup, she refused to look at him._

"_What's wrong?" he asked gently sitting down next to her._

"_You have never talked about them…at least to me…why not?" she asked quietly._

"_Because there is nothing to tell. They both died fulfilling their duty…but that was a long time ago."_

_Sakura looked up at him noticing the pain in his eye. She regretted her curiosity immediately. After placing her cup on the small table in front of the sofa, she did the same with Kakashi's cup. First, he looked confused by her behavior all of a sudden, but his confusion soon turned into shock, as she positioned herself on his lap._

"_Sakura?" he asked._

_Sakura's hands reached behind Kakashi's head to loosen his headband. Slowly she let it sink on the sofa next to them and then let her hands rest on his shoulders. His left eye was still closed._

"_I'm sorry, Kakashi…I didn't want you to feel sad or anything…," she told him quietly._

_The shock abated and his expression softened._

"_I'm not sad, Sakura, so you don't have to apologize," he responded placing his hands on her hips._

"_May I ask you one more question?" she asked touching his left cheek with her right hand._

"_Of course," he answered leaning into her touch and laying his left hand over hers._

"_Why are you wearing that mask, Kakashi? There is nothing on your face you have to hide…not even this scar is worth to hide," with her thumb, she stroked along the scar over his left eye._

_Smirking at her he tucked two fingers under the edge of his mask and pulled it down until the fabric lingered around his neck. This was the first time Sakura had the chance to enjoy this moment. Finally, she was able to see his face. Now it was not pouring and there was no woman nearby who could interrupt that special moment._

"_Really…you are absolutely handsome, Kakashi. I don't understand why-," she slightly caressed his cheek with the back of her hand._

"_When I was little, our neighbors were crazy about me. They always told me what a beautiful face I have. The worst about that was that they always pinched my cheek since I was so cute. Well, as it got too annoying I started to wear a mask…since then they haven't bothered me…not even once. And now it is just a habit to put on this mask every day," he smirked again._

_Sakura smiled down at him. She couldn't believe that this was the reason why he had been wearing that mask for years. Without thinking, she leaned forward and put her lips on his taking him off guard. However, after a moment, he also leaned into her and closed his eyes as well as Sakura._

_This kiss was different from the one they had shared in the afternoon. This one was much more passionate. Kakashi leaned his head to the left guiding Sakura into another kiss. As soon as the Copy Ninja slightly opened his mouth, she did the same allowing his tongue to enter her mouth. There was nothing in the world, which could be compared to this feeling building up inside of Sakura. One kiss followed the other, but Kakashi wouldn't let go of her lips…not even when their lungs started to beg for oxygen. _

_Sakura started to pant heavily trying to get a hold of herself, however, this feeling began to overwhelm her. Inside her, she could feel this strange, familiar sensation she has already felt before four months ago, when Kakashi had sneaked into her room. But now this sensation was so intense and it seemed as if not only Sakura but also Kakashi was feeling that way even though not as intensive as her. _

_Each caress of Kakashi's lips brought her closer to the edge, where she would lose herself. She lifted herself from his lap a bit and sat down on it again in order to stabilize herself. The moment she sat down again, Kakashi moaned quietly against her mouth. That sound was enough for her to drive her over the edge. Sakura drowned in the waves of pleasure._

"Really? Y-you climaxed because of a kiss?" Kushina asked incredulous.

"Haven't you listened? It was more than just one kiss," Sakura blushed deeply.

"Yes, but they were still just kisses," the red haired woman sounded a bit envious which made Sakura smirk for a second before going on.

"_Sakura," Kakashi whispered._

_Her forehead rested on Kakashi's shoulder and she panted more than earlier. Sakura couldn't bear to look him in the eye because of two reasons._

_First: She was still recovering from this unbelievable sensation and had no strength to lift her head._

_Second: She was too embarrassed._

"_Sakura, did you just-?"_

"_I'm sorry," she mumbled turning red._

_Kakashi chuckled._

"_What's so funny?" Sakura whined even more embarrassed._

"_You…apologizing about something like this," he started to kiss her neck._

"_Hmm, Kakashi," she purred._

_He moved his index finger from her neck down to her lower back only slightly touching her, which made her shiver. Her body was on fire again. Even Kakashi could notice that. But he was the last to complain about it. He pressed his lips on her ear and whispered seductively,_

"_Shall we go to the bedroom?"_

"…_Yes."_

_Kakashi stood up from the sofa with Sakura's legs wrapped around his waist and her arms around his neck. Once they had reached the bed, he laid her down on the soft mattress and loosened her grip around his neck._

"_What are you doing?" Sakura asked confused why she had to let go of him._

_Kakashi could only smirk at her reaction and said happily, "Well, this will be difficult if we don't get out of our clothes, don't you think?"_

_With that, he earned another blush from her._

_After a minute, they were both out of their clothes and Kakashi slowly crawled on top of her kissing her again like he had done before. All his nervousness was gone now._

"…"

"Why are you stopping," Kushina asked frowning.

"Do I have to go on? Isn't it obvious what happened after that?" Sakura murmured.

"Of course it is, but I still want to hear it," Kushina smiled brightly at her.

Sakura pressed her lips together.

"Aw, come on, pinky!" the red haired woman pushed her lower lip forward.

"…"

"Kushina, use your imagination. You don't need to hear the ending of the story," Minato came in and had a huge smile on his face.

"Oh my god! You've been listening!" Sakura was aghast.

"It's not my fault, since I have a good hearing," the Fourth said shrugging.

"Oh god," Sakura buried her face in her hands in embarrassment.

"I still would have liked to hear the ending," Kushina pouted getting up from her chair. "Now I need to pee…your boy in here is hardly ever content."

She gave Minato a little peck on the cheek and went to the toilet.

Minato's smile vanished from his face as he regarded the pink haired girl in front of him.

"Sakura…what has been bothering you for the past two days? And this time I want an honest answer," he told her.

Removing her hands from her face, she looked up to her sensei and observed his expression for a moment. She would never be able to hide something from him for too long.

"You always know, when you are lied at, don't you?" she asked with a sad smile.

"Mostly," was his answer.

Sakura took a deep breath and exhaled as if she wanted to calm herself.

"You know how much I love Kakashi," she began.

Minato nodded.

"And you know how much I like you and Kushina."

"…" he waited for her to continue.

"Then you should also know that I won't ever allow anything to happen to the three of you."

All of a sudden, Sakura's sad expression turned into something he had never seen on her face before. Determination. She was determined to do anything to keep them safe from any danger that might come.

"Sakura, what are you trying to say?" Minato asked seriously.

"Hokage-sama," she stood up and looked him straight in the eyes. "I want you to teach me the Fuinjutsu!"

**17**

**Teach me the Fuinjutsu!**

"Hokage-sama, I want you to teach me the Fuinjutsu!"

"The Fuinjutsu?" Minato's eyes narrowed.

Sakura nodded without looking away. Ever since Kakashi had left for a mission, she tried to come up with a good plan for keeping the Kyuubi away from Konoha, but the only way she could think of was a suicide, however this time it wouldn't be the Hokage committing it.

Minato sighed leaning back in his chair and letting his arms sink from the table to his sides. He could tell that Sakura wasn't joking. In her eyes was something that he had never seen before. Her eyes told him that she had been ready to give up her own life just to make sure that nobody else would be harmed. Her determination was something that amazed Minato very much.

"Sakura, according to your look, I think you know what will happen to you, after you will have performed that jutsu," he said calmly regarding her expression.

"Yes," she simply answered.

"Then why do you want to learn that?"

"I want to protect-," she started.

"Sakura, maybe you will protect us, if you seal up the demon in yourself, but haven't you thought of how much pain you will cause Kakashi, when you'll die?" Minato's voice was low.

The first time after she had asked him about the Fuinjutsu, Sakura looked away from Minato's gaze concentrating on the table instead. The Yondaime knew he broke her determination once he mentioned Kakashi and the pain he would feel, when she would be gone.

Although Sakura felt guilty about what she would be going to do, she knew exactly that there was no other way, if she wanted to change the future.

"Kakashi will be fine, Sensei-"

"Sakura," Minato's warning was overheard by her, since she just carried on.

"Because I won't die," she finished.

This was something Minato hadn't expected.

"What do you mean by that? Everyone who uses this jutsu will die, Sakura," he told her, as he regarded her suspiciously.

"You have to trust me, Minato-sensei. This jutsu might be fatal, but not for me."

Sakura raised her eyes from the table to look in his blue ones once again. Minato searched for any hint in her expression, which would betray her, but she seemed to tell the truth.

"I beg you, Minato-sensei, I won't be able to do it without your help," Sakura pleaded.

Minato sighed again and then said quietly, "Alright, Sakura, I will teach you the Fuinjutsu, but I have one condition…you have to promise me…no…you have to swear…that you have told me the truth about you not dying after you will perform that jutsu."

With that, a big smile appeared on Sakura's face and she said happily. "I swear that I have told you the truth about me not dying after I will perform the Fuinjutsu."

"Alright, since that's settled, will you tell me how you will manage that?" Minato asked smiling himself now.

"Nope. This is my secret," Sakura answered lightly.

"Okay, but-"

Minato was interrupted by someone knocking on the front door. Sakura could feel two shinobi in front of the door and one of them she knew pretty well. Smiling at Minato, she asked silently if she could open the door for him and as he nodded, she jumped up from her chair. She sprinted to the door and opened it in one elegant move.

"You're back!" she cheered staring in this familiar black uncovered eye.

"Have you ever doubted that?" Kakashi asked teasingly.

"Not for one second," she smiled wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

Just as he embraced her, too, a familiar voice said behind Kakashi "Jeez, Kakashi, yet you have a girlfriend, but you don't read my books? It would be good for you, you know, since you could get a few advises from them."

Kakashi exhaled deeply. "For the last time: I don't need any porn."

Minato approached them giggling.

"Are you still trying to persuade Kakashi to read your books?"

"He just doesn't know what he will miss," Jiraya grinned.

Minato laughed quietly. "I think you two should come in first before we continue this talk."

Jiraya and Kakashi -Sakura still clinging on to him- followed Minato to the dining room. Jiraya and Minato sat down on the chairs which were opposite of each other, as Sakura loosened her grab from Kakashi's neck, which caused him to hiss.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked worried.

"Nothing serious, really. No need to worry," he placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Are you hurt?" she asked when he wanted to take the chair next to Minato.

"It's really nothing, Sakura," Kakashi smiled at her.

"Fine if you want it that way, Kakashi…if you aren't in my room in 10 seconds only wearing your underwear, I will make you feel pain," Sakura menaced.

The eyes of the three men went wide at once.

"You won't do that," Kakashi tried to laugh it off sweat dropping.

"10." Sakura started to count down, but before she even counted to seven, Kakashi disappeared in her room followed by Sakura.

"Poor guy!" Minato whispered only half joking.

"Are you kidding? He should be lucky! I wish a sweet girl would tell me to strip down in front of her!" Jiraya said.

Minato could only roll his eyes.

"Kakashi! That's not a scratch! That's a pretty deep cut!" Sakura exclaimed examining the wound on Kakashi's chest.

"Really, Sakura, you don't need to worry! It doesn't even hurt," Kakashi tried to calm her.

Sakura's eyes narrowed, as she touched his chest only a centimeter next to the cut.

"OW!" the Copy Ninja hissed. "Okay, maybe it hurts a little."

She shook her head in disbelief and began to heal the wound holding her hands over it.

"Mmh…have I ever told you that it feel damn good, when you do that?" Kakashi purred.

"Save the purring, Copy cat…I won't stroke you tonight," Sakura smirked.

"Are you sure?"

The young kunoichi didn't miss the seductive tone in his voice.

"Yes, very sure," she answered finishing her healing.

"And what if I stroke you tonight?" he asked smugly.

With one smooth movement, Kakashi got up from his sitting position on the bed and took Sakura -who had been kneeling in front of him - with him. Before Sakura could react to what he was doing, he turned them around and pushed her slightly forward so that she was now lying on the bed - underneath him.

"Kakashi!" she gasped.

He only smiled and bent down to shower her neck with feather light kisses.

"Are you kidding? You just came home from a mission!" she growled.

"I know, but this won't hinder me to do what I have been dreaming of since I left for that mission," he whispered against her neck.

"Kakashi! You are tired!" Sakura began to push against his shoulders, but he ignored it.

"Yes, but I have enough energy left for what I planned."

"For god's sake! Kakashi!"

Kakashi raised his head and looked her in the eyes frowning: "Kill joy…"

"Yeah, whatever…now lay down and try to sleep!"

In the next second, the Copy Ninja rolled to the side so that he was now lying next to Sakura.

Seeing how he pouted, she giggled and rolled to her side in order to look at him directly. "There is still a tomorrow, Kakashi."

He looked at her from the corner of his eye and asked, "Do you promise that you won't resist tomorrow?"

Sakura smiled "Promised."

Then she leaned forward and kissed him on his lips, but not long enough that he had the chance to respond to it. After that, she got up from the bed and told him,

"Now try to sleep…I take your clothes to the laundry and then I will join you."

"Don't take too long because I don't know if I am able to sleep alone," he teased.

"I am rather afraid that I won't be able to sleep with you lying next to me!" she frowned.

Now it was Kakashi's turn to giggle, when she left the room closing the door behind her.

Sakura made her way along the short corridor to the bathroom to put Kakashi's dirty clothes to the other laundry. When she was done, she returned and walked to the dining room, but stopped, as she heard Minato and Jiraya talking.

"Come on; don't say that," Minato said. "I thought it was great! Each chapter really seems like a page out of your own life, sensei. It almost reads like an autobiography."

Sakura assumed they were talking about one of Jiraya's novels.

'I would have never thought that Minato-sensei would read this porn!' Sakura thought.

"Yeah, but it didn't sell at all. Maybe I should try and sex up the sequel a little…That's my real forte after all," Jiraya answered to Minato's statement.

"The way the protagonist refused to give up, even at the end…that was really cool. He's just like you, sensei", Minato told him in an admiring way.

"Hehe, you think so?" Sakura could hear that Jiraya was flattered.

"Actually I was thinking…"

"Hmm?"

"We want to raise our child to be a shinobi like the one in your book!" This sentence was filled with veritable pride. "That's why we've decided to name him after the main character in your book. What do you think?"

'Minato-sensei's son was named after one of Jiraya's characters? Jeez, that must be an awful name then,' Sakura thought sarcastically rolling her eyes.

"A-are you sure about this? It's just a random name I came up with while I was eating some ramen-," Jiraya said nervously.

Sakura couldn't help but thinking about a certain noisy boy. 'While he was eating ramen? Jeez…that sounds so much like-'

"Naruto…it's a beautiful name," Sakura heard Kushina saying from the dining room. She must have joined the two shinobi, as she and Kakashi were in her room.

'Exactly! Just like Naruto…' Sakura nodded to herself. 'Wait! NARUTO?'

"Kushina," Jiraya said. "Oh boy! If I name him that makes me his godfather, right? Are you sure you want that on your heads?" the perverted sage laughed.

"Absolutely! You're a man with true skill…an example we should all follow. I can't think of a finer shinobi than you," Minato assured him.

With that, Sakura jumped out of her hideout right in the middle of the scene in the dining room.

"Okay! Sorry to interrupt here, but what were you saying you would name your son?"

Sakura tried to calm down, but now there were thousand thought crossing her mind that she couldn't think straight.

"Ah Sakura, how is Kakashi?" Minato asked gently.

"Forget about Kakashi! I want to know what you have said before about naming your son!"

Everyone was taken back at Sakura's tone. Looking from Minato to Kushina, who stood next to him with a hand on his shoulder, Sakura took a deep breath.

"We said we would name him 'Naruto'," Kushina answered.

All of a sudden, Sakura began to laugh hysterically.

"This is just a coincidence…yes, that's it…I mean I don't know any Naruto Namikaze! And since you two are married, there is no way that the Naruto I know is your son!"

Jiraya, Minato, and Kushina regarded her as if she had lost her mind, but Kushina answered her nonetheless.

"What are you talking about, Sakura? Minato and I have never married."

Sakura's laughter came to a sudden stop.

"What?" she squeaked.

"We aren't married, Sakura," Minato said calmly.

"Okay, but the chance that Kushina is called Uzumaki is so damn low that it is almost impossible, right," she smiled nervously.

"I don't know what this is about, but my second name is indeed Uzumaki," Kushina hissed.

After that, everything got black in front of Sakura's eyes and the world was spinning around.

**18**

**How to change the future**

"How do you feel?" Kushina asked handing Sakura a cup of tea.

"After hearing that my clumsy teammate is the Fourth's son? Honestly, I am slightly confused," the pink haired girl answered eying Minato.

When Sakura had fainted for a few minutes, she was laid on the sofa in the living room and rested there until she woke up. Of course, she had to deal with some questioning looks after she had woken up again. Now Minato, Kushina, and Jiraya were sitting opposite of Sakura on chairs they had brought from the dining room. Now they had one of this question-answer-conversation they already had so many times.

"So you say that my son will be the hero of the village?" Kushina's eyes were shining with proud. Of course, she had only listened to the positive descriptions of Naruto Uzumaki.

"Yes, the Naruto in my time will be the hero of Konoha, but since I am here to change the fact that Konoha needs a hero in the first place, he will be an ordinary guy now", Sakura explained, "and now I have a question for you", she glanced at Minato. "Why would you want to seal the demon fox inside your own son?"

Kushina flinched at that topic and her proud expression turned into a worried one.

"You don't need to listen to that, Kushina," Jiraya told her noticing her expression.

"There is no reason for you to worry, Kushina, because my mission is to hinder Minato-sensei from doing this," Sakura said matter of factly.

Two pairs of eyes shot up to look into Sakura's.

"And how do you think you can prevent this from happening?" Jiraya asked incredulously.

The pregnant woman next to him only stared at Sakura with a slight light of hope shining in her eyes.

Before the young kunoichi could answer his question, Minato told him. "She wants me to teach her the Fuinjutsu."

While drinking a bit of her warm tea, Sakura smiled warmly. As if Jiraya could read her mind, he smirked devilishly.

"Ah. That's how it is…now I know why you are doing this. It was all an act of you, wasn't it? You whining about failing your mission and telling us everything about the possible future we might have. You only told us because you wanted to warn us, since you knew you wouldn't be there, when the time comes."

"A good shinobi is prepared for everything," Sakura said calmly.

"And what about your promise, Sakura?" Minato asked seriously.

"I won't break it."

"I know, you won't directly, but how do you think Kakashi will manage to wait for you 16 years and then facing Sakura Haruno who won't have any memories of what she will have done?"

"If he is serious about me, he will make me fall in love with him again," she glanced at the Fourth.

"Okay this is getting too confusing for me," Kushina messaged her temples in order to prevent a terrible headache.

Ignoring her Jiraya, Sakura, and Minato just continued their conversation not even noticing that Kushina left during their little chitchat.

"What about the Uchiha clan? I can't hinder them from planning a plot," the Fourth took his nose between his thumb and index finger sighing in frustration.

Sakura looked at him with pleading eyes. "When the demon fox appears, you have to face the man who controls it and kill him. Then you have to unmask him in front of Fugaku-san…I think that should be enough to prevent the massacre Itachi will cause."

Minato nodded.

"And what about Nagato, Konan and Yahiko?" Jiraya interrupted.

"I can only say what Naruto had told me…these three shinobi -well still rather children than shinobi now- have been taken care of by you, but it was not time for you to leave them…in order to hinder them to join Akatsuki, you need to bring them here to Konoha," Sakura told him.

Hours passed by while Sakura was telling the Sanin and the Hokage everything she knew what had to be changed even if she wouldn't be there to help, but then again she would be. Listening intently to her story, Jiraya and Minato were amazed by her. She was practically committing suicide, but then again she wasn't, and she was happy that she had the chance to change everything.

"Fine, Sakura. Starting tomorrow I will teach you that jutsu," Minato looked at her seriously.

"Well and I am on my way to fetch Nagato, Konan and Yahiko," Jiraya said calmly.

Sakura nodded to their statements and added. "And, please, don't tell Kakashi anything about this."

Minato and Jiraya looked at each other for a second as if discussing silently if it would be a good idea not to tell him, but then simply nodded at Sakura.

"I am off, then," Jiraya waved at them before disappearing with a 'puff'.

"I think I am going to bed now…I am really tired," Minato yawned stretching his arms above his head.

"Yes, me too. Thank you, Sensei," she whispered.

"No, Sakura…just don't," he waved a hand at her and disappeared in the bedroom. He seemed annoyed by something, but Sakura was excessively tired to wonder why.

Slowly she made her way to her room to find a sleeping Copy Ninja in her bed. Shaking her head, she smiled to herself as she crawled into the bed next to him. As if it was a reflex, Kakashi put one arm around her waist to pull her closer to him until her chest touched his one. Burying his nose in her hair, he inhaled deeply - still sound asleep.

"I love you, Sakura," he mumbled sleepy.

Hugging him too, Sakura closed her eyes and listened to Kakashi's steady heartbeat. Unable to hold back her tears, she let her emotions overwhelm her. This would be the last time she cried. She must have a strong mind in order to protect him even if that meant hurting him.

Have you ever felt like you didn't belong where you were? Have you ever left someone in order to protect him although you knew nothing would happen to him? Have you ever bet on something and lost everything?

That night Sakura lay awake wondering about all these things. She had never thought that it would turn out like this, but it seemed that fate was not on Sakura's side now. She knew that she hadn't belonged here in the first place. She knew that Kakashi would survive the attack of the Kyuubi, but she also knew that Minato did not…maybe not even Kushina, but she was determined to do what had to be done. God, she bet on the thought she could have a life here until the moment she became the witness of her own birth and now she was going to lose everything she had here. It would be up to Kakashi now, if they would be together once again someday.

A light smile appeared on her face although her tears wouldn't stop flowing down her cheeks. She mumbled softly into Kakashi's chest.

"I love you, too, Kakashi-sensei."

This is the way it should be.

'No more thinking: If I could turn back time…'

**19**

**Dinner for two**

"Sakura? Are you listening?"

The hand waving in front of Sakura's face disappeared, when her eyes blinked a few times realizing where she had actually been.

"Huh? Oh, I am sorry, Kakashi…I spaced out," she apologized giving him her full attention again.

Kakashi and Sakura sat in a small diner having lunch together and talking. Since the pink haired kunoichi insisted that they went out on a date together, Kakashi gave in happily, as he was as willing as her. Now they were having lunch -well, at least Sakura ate something because the Copy Ninja didn't want to take off his mask in front of other people- and he was telling her about his previous mission and she listened - okay…she tried to at least.

"Is my mission that boring?" Kakashi asked pushing his lower lip forward, which was covered with his mask.

"Of course not! I am really sorry – I," Sakura looked at him regretfully.

"Don't worry, I just wanted to tease you a bit," he smirked enjoying her almost panicked gaze.

Frowning Sakura leaned back in her chair and picked at her food in front of her with the fork. Now they were finally on a date and everything she did was spacing out. Sometimes she wished someone would slap her for her stupidity.

"But something is bothering you," Kakashi concluded.

"Maybe…I don't know," she answered looking away and sipping at her coke.

"You're such a bad liar, Sakura," his eyes narrowed. "You do know that you can trust me, don't you?"

Sakura looked him in the eye(s) putting down her drink and smiled brightly. "I know, Kakashi, but there is nothing for you to worry about or for me to tell you."

Kakashi crossed his arms in front of his chest not very convinced by her and simply stared at his girlfriend.

"Don't look at me like this, Kakashi. I assure you that, if I have problems, you're the first I will talk to."

"Why should we start with problems, Sakura? Let's start with something else. In fact I have wanted to ask you some questions for quite a while now since I barely know you," Sakura could have sworn that she had seen a spark of curiosity in his eye.

"Ask them," she answered unsure of what would he was going to ask.

"How old are you?"

The pink haired girl would have choked on her drink, if she had sipped at it right in that moment.

"Excuse me?" Sakura asked blinking.

"You heard me."

If Sakura remembered right, they have never talked about something like that…something so banal, which you would ask someone you like at the first time you see him or her.

"I am sixteen," she answered.

As soon as she told Kakashi her age, his eye widened for an instant and Sakura wondered if she had seen that right.

"What is your favorite food?" he continued.

Thinking about it she answered. "I don't have one in particular, but I do like Curry very much."

"Your favorite color?"

"Red…no, wait! Green…although, blue is pretty, too…and so is violet," she babbled.

"Let me guess: You don't have any in particular," Kakashi smirked.

"You could say that, yes." Sakura smiled back.

"Your favorite movie?"

"The Adventures of Princess Gale!" she answered without hesitation and realized too late that this was a mistake.

"Hmm…I don't know that movie," Kakashi wondered if he had missed that movie in the cinema, but usually he would know about any new movie.

'Darn!' Sakura thought. "You know, it wasn't such a good movie…that's why he wasn't shown in the cinemas and was released as a tape version right away."

"Oh. Well, back to our questions," Sakura was relieved that Kakashi didn't ask any further and dropped that topic.

She wouldn't know how she should explain the fact that the movie "The Adventures of Princess Gale" hasn't even been shot yet. The next questions were pretty much the same as those at the beginning. You know these kinds of questions like _favorite animal/flower/ book etc._

The interrogation would have lasted much longer, if Sakura hadn't interrupted.

"And what about you?"

"Huh?"

"Don't you think it would be only fair, if you answer some of my questions, too?" Sakura smirked curious about his answers.

"What do you want to know?" he frowned.

"Well…everything. Let's start with this one, too. How old are you?"

"…" he didn't reply.

"Well?"

"Don't you think it is time to go now, Sakura?" Kakashi asked as if Sakura hadn't said anything.

"You're avoiding the question," her eyes narrowed.

"Well, if you want to miss the movie," Kakashi shrugged.

"Don't be ridiculous, Kakashi, it can't be that la-," she glanced at her watch and her eyes widened. "Holy shit! We are going to miss the movie!"

Getting up from her chair, she put on her jacket and told Kakashi to hurry the hell up, so that they won't be too late for picking up their tickets for the cinema, which they had bespoken earlier that day. Fortunately, they had already paid for the lunch, so that they hurried out of the diner and straight to the cinema at the other end of Konoha.

Arriving there just in time, Sakura and Kakashi picked up said tickets and bought some coke and popcorn for the movie, before going to screen five, where the movie was shown.

Sakura was surprised that Kakashi was the type to watch a movie -a romantic one nonetheless- in the cinema. Maybe he just wanted to do her a favor, but since he was the one suggesting the movie, that couldn't be the case.

"How did you like it?" Kakashi asked after the movie ended and they were out on the streets again.

"You mean the movie? I loved it! You really have good taste in such things, I have to admit," Sakura smirked.

"Always at your service," Kakashi bowed playfully in front of his girlfriend, before taking her hand lifting it up to his lips and placing a feather light kiss on it.

Sakura blushed furiously at his action. Kakashi, who noticed it, laughed softly and pulled her into his arms kissing her through his mask.

"You're so cute, Sakura. I believe that you are my personal angel," he whispered in her ear. "Every time I embrace you like that, I don't want to ever let go of you."

Hugging him, too, Sakura told him, "I won't ever run away, Kakashi."

"Do you promise me?" his embrace tightened.

"What is this about, Kakashi? You're talking like a child, whose lollipop is about to be taken away," Sakura tried to laugh it off, but Kakashi didn't let go of it.

"Promise me, Sakura. Promise that you won't ever leave my side," he was very serious about it.

"Why should I leave you, Kakashi? I am not able to. As long as you think of me I am not able to leave your side," she laid her cheek against his shoulder.

"Good, because I won't ever stop thinking of you," Kakashi whispered kissing the top of her head.

Time was so cruel. The most beautiful moments pass by so quickly that you don't have the chance to appreciate them sometimes, however, the worst moments last so long that it seems like time has stopped at some point. This moment was one of the most precious ones for Sakura and as always, it lasted not long enough for her.

Kakashi slowly let go and smiled at her. "Now, that that's done, how about an early dinner?"

"Sounds good to me," she smiled back missing the warmth of his body.

Fortunately, Kakashi still held Sakura's hand in his, as they made their way to a restaurant Sakura has never been to. Entering the building, they were greeted by a young waitress, who seemed to be surprised to see Kakashi with a girl. Anyway, she guided them to a table next to the window and lighted the candle in the middle of the table.

Giving them the menu, she asked them smiling, "What do you like to drink?"

"Would you like to drink some red wine at first, Kakashi?" Sakura asked hoping they could celebrate their first real date together.

"Uh…Sakura," Kakashi started, but was interrupted by the waitress.

"Well, since you seem to be already sixteen, I am allowed to offer you some, girl, but I can't give Kakashi any alcohol, since he is just fourteen," she giggled.

Sakura's eyes widened as she stared at Kakashi who simply stared back without saying anything.

"Four -Fourteen?"

**20**

**Just fourteen years old?**

"You are kidding, aren't you?" Sakura asked the waitress incredulously.

"Why should I? Haven't you known that Kakashi was still fourteen?" the waitress looked at her frowning.

Slowly Sakura looked from the waitress in front of her to Kakashi, who simply stared at the pink haired girl as if observing her very expression. Well her expressions were indeed something to look at. Kakashi would have even laughed because of them, if the circumstances had been different, but now the situation wasn't funny at all.

"Really?" Sakura's voice failed and her question for Kakashi came out as a breathless whisper.

"Well, there are other customers, too. I'll be back, when you two have chosen your meal, alright?" with that, the waitress was off.

Kakashi and Sakura didn't pay any attention to the young woman, but only stared at each other. The young kunoichi was still waiting for an answer from her boyfriend, as he only locked her gaze with his. Finally, when he looked away to the table, Sakura could recognize the disappointment in Kakashi's face.

"Does it matter?" he asked dryly.

Sakura couldn't believe what he just said.

"Of course it does," she snapped.

"Why? Does it bother you that much that I am two years younger than you?" his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Don't be ridiculous," she hissed.

"So I am ridiculous now?" Kakashi was on the verge of losing his temper.

He was amazed that the fact that Sakura was bothered by the age difference could enrage him this much. Maybe he was hurt by this. She didn't have to act this way.

'I wouldn't even mind if I was 20 years older than her!' he thought clenching his teeth.

"Yes, right now you are! Getting all mad at me for something I have never said is ridiculous! I don't care if you are two years younger than me! Seriously, you don't look like fourteen at all! I thought that you were at least my age … if not older," she told him while Kakashi was looking at her with raised eyebrows. "I am just…well…angry that you didn't tell me sooner!"

'Why do girls always get mad, when a guy doesn't tell them something like this the first time they meet each other?' Kakashi thought sighing inwardly.

"So the age difference doesn't bother you, but the fact that I didn't tell you my age sooner does?" he asked smiling contently.

"Of course! I mean…I thought I knew almost everything about you, but now that I didn't even guess right concerning your age," Sakura exhaled deeply trying to control her temper before continuing. "This is what bothers me. … Would you please stop grinning so contently, please?" she glared at him.

But he didn't - he couldn't.

"Sorry, Sakura. I am just relieved. For a moment I thought you would break up with me because of my age."

Sakura sighed at his statement shaking her head.

"But if it appeases you, Sakura, you don't look like you are sixteen. I wonder why the waitress even wanted to give you some alcohol, though you still look like a twelve year old kid," he teased her.

Sakura's eyes narrowed like Kakashi's had before and then tossed her napkin into Kakashi's face, before he could avoid it.

"And you sure act like one, too," he added removing the napkin from his face grinning at her which caused her to blush a deep shade of red.

As soon as the little misunderstanding was cleared, Kakashi and Sakura enjoyed their dinner and were all lovey-dovey again. But who would have thought that this would be changed immediately after they stepped out of the restaurant?

Kakashi opened the door for Sakura, so that she could pass by him. When they were outside Sakura wrapped her arms around Kakashi's right arm and leaned her head against his shoulder smiling happily at him. There was definitely no way she could have guessed right concerning his age.

"It's surprising that the guilt hasn't overwhelmed you yet, Kakashi," a voice said coming from across the street.

Sakura froze looking to where the voice had come from, but couldn't see anything since the person was hiding in the shadows.

"Don't you think it is very rude to address me while you are hiding yourself in the shadows, Itachi?" Kakashi asked unimpressed.

"And leaving out an imposing appearance? I don't think so," Itachi stepped out of the dark into the light of a street lamp. The Sharingan already activated.

Sakura was surprised to see him. To be honest she totally forgot about the Uchihas, but now that she saw Itachi standing in front of them, she remembered the little incident a few months ago. Back then, Itachi had made himself clear that she would be the enemy of the entire Uchiha clan, if she joined Kakashi's team.

"What do you mean by 'guilt'?" Sakura asked confused.

The Copy Ninja flinched beside her, which did not go unnoticed by Itachi or Sakura.

"So you didn't tell her?" Itachi said derisively.

Kakashi growled at him. A warning.

"Tell me what?" Sakura looked at Kakashi.

"Itachi. This. Is. None. Of. Your. Business," the Copy Ninja hissed through gritted teeth.

"Yes, it **is **mybusiness! Killing an Uchiha and stealing his Sharingan is a matter concerning the entire Uchiha Clan!" Itachi growled too.

Suddenly Kakashi tensed and Sakura noticed that he would attack Itachi in an instant, if she didn't prevent it.

"Itachi," Kakashi and Itachi looked at Sakura surprised that she was the first to talk, "I only warn you once and I advise you that you listen to me now: Obito was killed by Rock Ninjas while he and Kakashi were rescuing Rin. And giving Kakashi the Sharingan was his own free will and his last one. You have no right to insult Kakashi of murdering and stealing! If you continue with this, then let me ensure you that Obito would be deeply ashamed for being an Uchiha!"

"Watch your tongue, little brat!" another voice warned from behind Itachi approaching the light, too.

Fugaku stepped forward glaring at the pink haired girl and carried on. "You talk as if you were there two years ago but you were not. So stop acting like you know what you are saying!"

Sakura could only smirk mischievously at him. "Exactly. You weren't there. So stop acting like you were!"

Fugaku's as well as Itachi's eyes narrowed and they were once again looking at Sakura with this murderous glance.

"Come on, Itachi. Why should **we** do all the work, when there is a good chance that Obito's death will be revenged in two weeks," Fugaku told his son turning his back to Kakashi and Sakura.

"Be careful with what you say, Fugaku-san. In two weeks, I think it would be best for the Uchihas to start over, in order not to be overwhelmed by **shame!"** Sakura yelled after them.

After the two of them had disappeared in the dark, where they had come from, Sakura looked up at Kakashi to see that he stared at her intensively.

"Why are you looking at me like this?" she asked.

"How do you know about Obito?" Kakashi whispered.

All of a sudden, Sakura smirked at him happily, which caused him to frown.

"Let's say I am not the only one talking while she is sleeping."

Kakashi's shoulders dropped a little, as he felt somehow sad that his girlfriend had to find out something like this through his sleep. Sakura, who felt Kakashi's sadness, took his face in both of her hands and whispered,

"Don't feel sad, Kakashi. I didn't want you to remember that…I am sorry."

The Copy Ninja smiled weakly at her leaning down a little to place a kiss upon her lips, but unfortunately-

"Aren't you the girl who delivered my child?" a woman asked behind Sakura.

Kakashi and Sakura parted immediately, when they heard her and Sakura turned around to face her mother. That day really held some surprises for Sakura.

"Yes, I am," the pink haired girl answered.

Nadeshiko wrapped her arms around Sakura and pulled her into a hug. With this tiny gesture, Sakura felt like she was at home in her time again. This hug felt so familiar and yet so strange. Here she was hugging her mother like she always had, when she still had been a little girl. Without Sakura noticing it Nadeshiko moved a bit away from her, so that the small thing she held in her arm wasn't squashed.

"This is your child, isn't it?" Kakashi asked next to Sakura smiling warmly at the baby who looked at him with familiar green eyes.

"Yes," her mother sounded so proud, "this is my daughter. Her name is Sakura."

"That's a beautiful name for a beautiful baby," Kakashi said fully aware that Sakura -his girlfriend- blushed.

Not only was she flustered by it. The little Sakura in Nadeshiko's arms started to laugh and held out her tiny, little arms towards Kakashi, who automatically reached out for her as well.

"May I?" he asked Nadeshiko, who nodded happily handing her daughter to the Copy Ninja.

Kakashi held her up towards the sky, which she seemed to like very much, and said in a soft voice:

"Hey there, little Cherry Blossom," this caused little Sakura to laugh again and reach out for him.

This would be such a lovely picture for everyone who saw this. Kakashi with a little baby in his arms, who smiled at each other as if there was nobody else in this world. Yes, it would definitely be a lovely picture for everyone. But not for Sakura.

She stood there watching the scene in front of her. A pain slowly crept through her body until it came to a stop in her heart clinging to it.

A pain she felt for the first time.

Jealousy.

**21**

**Mission ‚Evacuating the village' starts**

"That's enough for today, Sakura," Minato said evenly.

"But Sensei-" Sakura started.

"No! Enough, Sakura!"

It has been one week. One week of mental training for Sakura to accomplish the Fuinjutsu taught by the Fourth. Of course, there would only be the mental part of the training since it wouldn't be too wise to practice the jutsu. In the past week, Sakura did her best and was eager to succeed with the training, so that she would also succeed in two weeks when the nine-tailed fox would appear.

Now they were at the training grounds, where Sakura's first "mission" took place when she became a Genin. Although Sakura was sure she did pretty well, Minato was obviously mad at her.

"Sensei? Why are you so mad at me? Not only today, but the whole last week, too," Sakura asked sitting in the grass.

Minato got up from his sitting position and looked at her. This was the first time his gaze looked extremely cold. It was as if he was accusing her of something. But without saying anything, he simply turned around and started to walk away.

"Today evening I will announce the evacuation of the civilians tomorrow. Don't forget it." that was all he told her before he left.

Sakura just sat there on the ground looking after him and wondering what could be wrong. Since the day she has asked him to teach her the Fuinjutsu, his attitude towards her was somehow cold.

"What have you done to anger him that much, Sakura?" a voice asked behind her.

Turning her head, she looked up at Kakashi who seemed to sneak up behind her.

"Kakashi?"

"This is the first time I have seen him mad…Usually he always has a smile on his face," he stated.

Sighing deeply Sakura looked down at the grass and said, "I don't know why he is so mad, but I think that it is really my fault."

"Why? Is your training going that bad? … By the way, what exactly are you doing with him here?" Kakashi frowned.

_Shoot!_

Sakura hated lying to Kakashi, but since he mustn't find out about the Fuinjutsu, she didn't have another possibility but to lie. Carefully she balanced her words before telling him.

"You know that I am a Genjutsu type?" she asked still not facing him.

Kakashi simply nodded and waited for her to go on.

"Minato-sensei is teaching me how to improve my skills in that matter."

"Hmm," was all he gave as a reply.

Sakura could not stand the feeling of being suspected of lying, so she quickly got up and removed some dirt from her pants, and then she turned around and faced Kakashi smiling.

"Do you want me to cook you something?" she asked.

As if to convince Kakashi, Sakura's stomach growled, which caused Kakashi to chuckle and Sakura to blush.

"Sounds good to me, too," he grinned.

As soon as they arrived at Kakashi's place, where Sakura used to live for the past month, Sakura started cooking a delicious meal, which they ate together an hour later. That became a routine for both of them. Each day, when Kakashi didn't have any mission, she would cook for him and they would eat together. Usually they would eat in silence, but today was different.

"Sakura?" Kakashi asked.

"Hm?" Sakura replied chewing on her rice.

"You are sixteen years old, aren't you?"

"You already know that," Sakura frowned wondering why he started that again.

"…"

"What is it, Kakashi?" Sakura asked.

"Nothing…the meal is delicious," he quickly changed the topic.

Sakura only raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't want to bring the topic about the whole age thing up again, so she let it be.

"Thanks," she replied happily.

"By the way, Minato-sensei wants to declare the evacuation of the civilians today in the evening," Kakashi told her continuing eating.

"Yes, I know," Sakura said looking at her plate.

"There are only two weeks left," Kakashi said with a sad tone.

Sakura looked up to find Kakashi also looking at her intensively.

"Don't worry, Kakashi. I told you that there is nothing to worry about," she smiled encouragingly.

"I know. I trust you, Sakura," he tried to smile, but failed.

Sakura was somehow glad that there would only be two weeks left because this guilt would kill her eventually. Every time she saw Kakashi like that because of another lie of her, she would always nearly tell him the truth just to erase this guilt. However, thinking about the fourteen days they had left, she was sad that time passed by so quickly. Although she has been in this time for almost 6 months, it didn't seem that long to her. So much had happened and yet she couldn't change anything. But she would within only one day and that day she would make sure that she succeeded her mission.

In the evening everybody -civilians as well as shinobi- were ordered to come to the Hokage tower by none other than the Fourth. When they all gathered in front of the building, Minato stepped on top of the tower so that he could make the announcement each shinobi feared because of possible reactions of their family.

"I don't want to beat around the bush, so I get straight to the point. Tomorrow each civilian will be evacuated to Waterfall! There will be a few chosen ninjas to guide you. Only pack what you need and keep your baggage as light as possible," he said firmly pausing after he saw the confused expressions of the people.

"Why do you say something like that, Hokage-sama? What the hell happened?" a few people asked while everyone else protested.

"Clam down! You have to get away from Konoha as soon as possible since it will be a battlefield in two weeks! And if you don't want to get in our way, you'll listen to me!" the Hokage's temper was rising.

"We won't run away, Hokage-sama! We'll stay! We don't want to be separated from our family! And we certainly won't leave them, when there is a chance they will die in battle!" the shouts were clearly heard in all the confusion.

"If you stay, your family surely will die protecting you! If you want your family to live you'll go to Waterfall tomorrow!" Minato shouted back which caused the civilians to shut up.

"Who will attack Konoha?" a female voice asked.

"I'm sorry, but you don't need to know. But I can promise you that there won't be unnecessary bloodshed," Minato said while his gaze got cold again. "So please be ready by dawn tomorrow and gather at the gates! That's all I have to say."

With that, Minato turned around and walked by Kakashi and Sakura who stood at the top of the stairs and watching the scene in front of them. None of them said anything, when Minato walked by and down the stairs probably to his office. Sakura still listened to the confused voices in front of the Hokage tower hoping they would listen to what the Hokage had just told them.

"What do you think about all this?" a male voice asked.

"This is bullshit! How would he know that our village will be attacked in two weeks?" another answered.

"Well, we don't know anything what happens in the world of our ninjas, so there is always a possibility, that our Hokage would know something like that," a young female stated.

"But how can he expect us to leave our husbands or wives behind? This is just crazy," another woman said.

"…" For a moment, there was quiet murmuring.

"I'll do it," a girl whispered.

"You'll do what, sweetheart?" probably her mother.

"I'll go to Waterfall," the little girl said more self-confidently.

"What are you talking about, Emi? Do you want to leave Daddy behind?" her mother was shocked by her daughter's statement.

"Of course not, but I don't want to endanger Dad! I don't want him to die protecting me! I don't want to be in his way!"

"…" Nobody dared to say something considering the little girl's words.

"I'll go, too," a man mumbled.

"Yeah, me too."

"And me."

"Me too."

Sakura sighed in relief. Thanks to the little girl, the villagers seemed to become reasonable and made up their minds to go to Waterfall. She looked up to Kakashi who was smiling at her. He was just as relieved as she was. Having the villagers in safety, the shinobis won't have to worry about them.

"Sakura, do you mind waiting at home for me? I would like to talk to Minato-sensei for a while," Kakashi asked her squeezing her hand.

"Go ahead," she smiled giving him a light kiss on his masked lips.

Kakashi released her hand and went down the stairs to the Hokage's office. Carefully he knocked on the door waiting for his mentor to give him permission to enter.

"Come in, Kakashi."

**22**

**Lies over lies**

"Sakura, do you mind waiting at home for me? I would like to talk to Minato-sensei for a while," Kakashi asked her squeezing her hand.

"Go ahead," she smiled giving him a light kiss on his masked lips.

Kakashi released her hand and went down the stairs to the Hokage's office. Carefully he knocked on the door waiting for his mentor to give him permission to enter.

"Come in, Kakashi."

Hearing his sensei's voice, Kakashi opened the door with a concerned look on his face. As soon as he was inside the office, he shut the door behind him. Minato sat at his desk twitching is nose between his index finger and his thumb.

"Is something wrong, sensei?" Kakashi asked approaching the desk with his hand in his pockets.

Minato sighed loudly letting his hand fall onto the desk and leaning back in his chair, before he waved a hand in the direction of the other chair opposite of him signalizing Kakashi to sit down there. The Copy Ninja did as he was told and sat down regarding his sensei and still waiting for an answer.

"Kakashi, what I am going to tell you now, is top secret, do you understand? When this would become public, it would only get very … dangerous … for several reasons," Minato told him seriously.

Kakashi gulped.

"Sometimes, Kakashi, people have to lie in order to protect others. Especially, when they protect people they love most in this world. But a single lie could lead to another, and the other lie could lead to another lie again, and so on. Once we have lied there is no turning back, do you understand?" Minato looked at him with a strange expression on his face.

Kakashi raised one eyebrow suspiciously and curiously. "What are you trying to tell me, Sensei?"

"Kakashi," Minato began with a low voice leaning forward, while Kakashi did the same until he balanced on the two leading legs of the four legs of his chair.

"Kakashi, being Hokage sucks!" the Yondaime said bluntly.

This was very unexpected and due of this surprise Kakashi fell forward from his chair landing on the floor.

"What are you doing on the floor, kid?" Minato asked amused by his reaction.

Kakashi, who was aware of his sensei's teasing, got up again and placed the chair back to his original position, but didn't sit down again.

"And I was actually worried about you," the Copy Ninja rolled his eye.

"I just told you that this profession really sucks! Why shouldn't you worry about me?" Minato smiled.

"Come on, Minato-sensei! You have a pregnant wife at home and a totally confused and worried village outside on the streets! If this isn't the time to complain about being the leader of a village, then when is?" Kakashi frowned, which made Minato laugh out loud.

"Yeah, you're probably right," he snickered.

"Probably," Kakashi hissed sarcastically.

"So that I am done with wining, what do **you** want?" Minato asked still having a huge smile on his face.

"Well, I just wanted to know what Sakura has done that makes you so upset," the silver-haired guy asked observing the Yondaime's expression carefully. Of course, he didn't miss the fact that Minato's face fell as soon as Kakashi mentioned Sakura's name.

"What do you mean? I am not upset with her," The Hokage said frowning.

"Who are you trying to kid, Sensei? I saw you at the training ground and if you don't call your mood you had back then upset, then I don't want to see what you are like, when you are furious," the Copy Ninja told him determined to get an honest answer out of him.

For a few seconds both of them stared at each other as if they had a silent match, who would give in first. However, Minato lost this round and started.

"Kakashi, you see, it's not that I am angry with her or something like that…it's just that I am not very happy about some decisions she made, alright?"

"What decisions?" Kakashi asked confused.

"Just decisions," Minato shrugged avoiding his student's gaze.

"What are you trying to hide from me, Sensei?" Kakashi's low voice matched his narrowed eyes perfectly.

"I am hiding nothing from you," forcing a smile the Hokage's defensive wall started slowly to break. 'Jeez, Sakumo! This is the only time I curse you for always having been so suspicious of everything! Because of your bad habit Kakashi acts the same now!' he thought.

"Alright."

"Huh?" Minato was taken aback by Kakashi's reply.

"I said it was alright. If you say you aren't hiding anything, I believe you," turning around Kakashi was about to leave, as someone knocked on the door from outside.

Opening the door, Kakashi let Jiraya, who had just knocked, in without considering him any further and left without saying anything else to Minato.

"I am impressed Minato," Jiraya said as soon as the door was safely shut behind him.

"Why?" the Hokage asked with a bored tone.

"When you were about to tell Kakashi the truth, you immediately changed your mind as soon as you sensed my chakra."

"Tss! As if that was the only reason!" Minato told Jiraya disgusted with himself after lying so shamelessly to his own student.

"What was the other reason?" the Toad Sanin asked curiously raising an eyebrow.

"I had only thought that," Minato laughed sadly, "if I told Kakashi that the girl he loved was from the future and that she would die in two weeks, he couldn't stand it. I know that Kakashi is a tough guy, but if I told him that he had to experience the same situation as with Obito and Rin once more, he would do **everything** to keep Sakura from sealing the Fox inside her."

"Isn't that exactly what you want?" Jiraya asked confused, which caused the Yondaime to flinch.

"Was it really that obvious?"

"Pretty obvious, yes. … But Minato, there is a reason why Sakura was sent here and this reason is to keep you from sacrificing yourself for the village. Obviously you are needed for something in the future, and you know it," Jiraya told him seriously.

In the meantime, Kakashi was on his way home thinking about everything and nothing. On the one hand he was confused, irritated and upset, since there was something Minato didn't want to tell him. On the other side he was -

"Hello Kakashi," a somehow familiar voice greeted him.

Looking up from the ground, he saw Mrs. Haruno walking towards him with a red buggy in front of her.

"Hello Mrs. Haruno. Are you taking a walk with Sakura?" he asked not wanting to be rude by giving her short greetings and disappearing then.

"Actually, I was looking for either you or Sakura-chan," she said sheepishly.

"What can I do for you?" Kakashi asked.

"Well, I wanted to go to the grocery store and do some shopping, but since my husband is away on a mission and can't keep an eye on our daughter, I wanted to ask you if you could guard her for about an hour, so that I can finish shopping more quickly," Sakura's mother explained.

Without hesitation, Kakashi agreed and took the buggy from Mrs. Haruno.

"Thank you very much, Kakashi. I owe you for that," she said waving goodbye and walking down the street to the grocery store.

Little Sakura opened her eyes slowly still a little sleepy and noticed that it wasn't her mother who moved the buggy, but Kakashi. Sheepishly she smiled at him hiding half her face under the small blanket, which she was covered with.

"Hey there, cutie," Kakashi greeted her smiling. "I am afraid you are stuck with me for the next hour."

As a reply, Kakashi got the cutest giggling he had ever heard.

"If you do that with everyone, then I am worried that someone will carry you away and keep you for himself," Kakashi smiled at Sakura, which only caused her to smile more.

Since Kakashi didn't know, what he should do with her or where he should go to, he simply decided to do what he would do, when little Sakura wasn't with him.

Arriving at the memorial, he parked the buggy next to it and took Sakura out of it. Slowly he sat down on the ground placing his companion on his lap and holding her little hands.

A few minutes Kakashi didn't say anything, but he only watched Sakura fidgeting in front of him. All of a sudden, she lost her balance and fell backwards against Kakashi's chest. Looking up she smiled broadly at him, but stopped, when something wet dropped on her face. She opened her eyes and saw Kakashi's eye, where many tears came out and dropped down on her little face.

"I am sorry, Sakura", he told her wiping away his tears, but they would stop flowing. "You know, I am really worried about someone, but I can't do anything to help her. She wouldn't even let me help her even if I asked her. It feels like, when I lost my best friends. The feelings I had in the moments of their deaths…I feel the same way now. This feeling won't stop," Kakashi took a deep breath turning Sakura around on his lap, so that she was facing him now.

"I am not blind. I know that something terrible will happen. And I got the feeling that everybody knows about it except for me. And I am terribly scared that it has something to do with Sakura. It's like she's slipping through my fingers like water."

Slowly Kakashi leant forward, so that is forehead was now touching Sakura's, whose eyes got also teary.

"I am pathetic, am I not? Here I am crying like a crybaby and telling my worries a little girl like you," he laughed sadly still with a wet face.

Sakura looked at her companion, before reaching out to his face with her little hand. Without resisting he let her pull down his mask, which took a while since she didn't know how to do it, but as soon as his mask was half way down resting just below his lips, Sakura put her little hand over his mouth. It was as if she was telling him not to worry. Smiling softly at her, his tears finally tried and he managed to stop crying.

Suddenly he felt another small hand below his left cheek. Sakura leaned forward, put her little lips on the corner of Kakashi's mouth, and backed off as quickly as she leaned forward.

A little surprised the Copy Ninja put his mask back on and smiled at her.

"Thank you, Sakura. Although you are just a baby, I am much calmer now," and he didn't even lie about that.

This girl calmed him down just by her little gestures. It was amazing how she could influence his mood. She was just like somebody else he knew.

His girlfriend.

**23**

**The Kyuubi appears**

Time passed by very quickly and before anybody noticed the day, everybody feared had come at last. The last couple of days Sakura didn't miss a chance to go out with Kakashi as often as their free time allowed it. But that fact made Kakashi even more anxious because he had the feeling, she was trying to say goodbye. However, he didn't dare to ask her. He was afraid of her answer.

Now that the day has arrived, when the Kyuubi would attack the village, Minato was relieved that the villagers already were safe in another village far away from Konoha - including Kushina. The only ones left in the village were high-ranking ninjas who would give Sakura the time she needed to prepare the ultimate jutsu. Of course, the only one who didn't know anything was no other than the Copy Ninja.

Hour by hour the ninjas got edgier until the sun was going down.

"Hokage-sama, we have been waiting all day now, but there still is no sign of the nine-tailed fox!" some ninjas told Minato.

The Hokage, who already had summoned Gamabunta and who waited along with Sakura and Kakashi, who flanked him, on top of his head, glanced at Sakura.

"Don't worry," she said with a dark voice.

And then everybody could feel it.

!

"What the hell is that?" the ninja who had just complained shouted.

"It really came!" Kakashi whispered in shock.

The second everybody sensed that monstrous chakra of the nine-tailed beast, they were immediately on guard again.

"Everybody! No matter what happens, you mustn't let it through the gates of Konoha!" Minato ordered.

With that said, each ninja headed out to the forest in front of the village to encounter the fox there. Everything went exactly like Sakura and the Hokage had planned it - so far. Now there was only one thing to do.

"Kakashi, I order you to back up the others, but only back them up! Don't you dare to think you could face the nine tailed directly! Keep a safe distance between you, got it?" Minato told him.

"Understood," Kakashi nodded and was about to make his way into the forest as well, when he noticed that Sakura stood behind.

"What about you, Sakura? We'll need your medical skills out there," he said only half facing her.

"Sakura has other things to take care of, Kakashi," Minato snapped as Sakura wanted to say something.

"I'll join you soon. Be careful, Kakashi," the Copy Ninja nodded and hurried away slightly puzzled.

As soon as Minato was sure that the Copy Ninja couldn't hear them anymore, he asked,

"Gama, do you remember the plan?"

"Who do you think I am? Some forgetful idiot?" Gamabunta growled.

"Great! Sakura, as soon as you are ready I'll be ready too."

Sakura nodded. Observing her carefully Minato finally said,

"You don't have to do this, Sakura. I could -"

"No! I'll do it! But I have something I want you to do, when everything is over," she whispered the last part of her phrase as if she didn't have the right to ask for something.

"What is it?" Minato asked worried.

"I want you to take me to Kakashi…I am not sure what will happen to me, when I die, but I don't want to be alone, when it happens," she let her head drop and closed her eyes for a moment.

Taking in a deep breath, she opened them again and looked in the Hokage's eyes with all her confidence.

"Promise me that you'll do that," she demanded.

"You have the promise of the fourth Hokage, Sakura," he tried to fake a smile, but failed.

Seeing how he forced to ease her anxiety with a fake and miserable smile, Sakura couldn't help, but smile brightly at him. She didn't know why, but somehow Minato had the ability to make people smile in their worst moments. Just like her clumsy teammate in the future.

"You know what? I am glad that I came to the past!" her smile was so honest.

Just hearing her say that and seeing her smile that brightly, Minato felt so horrible that he sank down to his knees in front of Sakura and bowed his head. The young Kunoichi was taken aback at his sudden actions.

"Sakura, I owe you something and I swear that somehow I will pay you back. I won't let anyone ever forget your bravery, not as long as I am the fourth Hokage," this was like he made an oath to Sakura.

"You don't owe me anything, Hokage-sama," Sakura sank down on her knees as well and hugged him. The past half of a year, he was like a father to her and now she had to say goodbye.

"I hope we'll see us again in the future…Minato," she whispered.

"Kakashi! Hurry up and get away from there!" a jonin shouted as he saw that the Kyuubi was about to attack.

"It is way too strong! We'll be dead if this continues like that!" another shouted.

When the Kyuubi attacked, nobody could keep the positions since they were all thrown back. Although the Nine tailed beast didn't do much but opening its mouth, which caused a chakra wave to explode, there wasn't a single ninja, who could be a match for it.

"Let's retreat! We are no match for him!" the ninja who Kakashi helped groaned in pain since he was bleeding all over.

"No! We have our orders of the Hokage! We would betray him and therefore our village if we retreated!" Kakashi screamed in order to drown the Kyuubi's growl.

Kakashi looked around and saw many bodies lying around and even more ninjas were badly injured. He knew that they wouldn't make it. If Sakura weren't soon to come to treat their wounds, they wouldn't be able to prevent the beast from attacking the village itself.

"Looks like the battle has already started!"

Everybody looked at the sky where the voice seemed to come from, but a huge creature jumping between the Konoha ninjas and the Kyuubi surprised them.

"It's Gamabunta! The Hokage has finally come!" the injured ninjas shouted.

Suddenly they were relieved to see their leader, though they were inwardly accusing him of sending them to their sure death.

"Minato-sensei! Be careful! This beast is too strong for you! You won't make it!" Kakashi shouted and was about to run to his sensei, but was stopped by Iruka.

"Iruka, let me go! I have to help him!"

"Shut up, Kakashi! You would only be in his way!" Iruka snapped.

Since the figure on top of Gamabunta's head was embosomed by the moonlight, everybody could only make out its profile. The person with Gamabunta raised his right hand that showed a fist at its end - a sign of the end of a fight.

Now everybody knew what the Hokage planned to do.

"He's not going to use that technique, is he?" Iruka asked shocked.

"Please…that can't be!" Kakashi was out of breath. Not his sensei, too!

"Gamabunta? Are you ready?" Sakura asked dropping her raised fist.

"Ready when you are!" the toad said pulling out his sword.

"Tell Minato that I am grateful for everything, if I won't make it until he returns," she said making the seals.

"How about you tell him that yourself?" Gama said prepared to attack.

"Let's get over with this!" Sakura said finishing the seals.

"Fuin no jutsu!" she shouted, while Gama jumped towards the fox.

The final attack has begun.

**24**

**Second Chance**

Kakashi felt like his blood was being sucked out of his body. His mind went completely blank when Iruka pulled him away from the battlefield, where two titans were ready to make the final move. Of course the Copy Ninja wouldn't have allowed Iruka to drag him away, but the scene in front of him shocked him way too much, His sensei - his father was about to sacrifice himself in order to protect the village from the demon fox and there was nothing Kakashi could do to prevent this. Absolutely nothing.

"We have to take the injured ninjas away from here!" Iruka shouted.

There were dozens of ninjas lying on the ground. Lots of them were already dead as far as Kakashi could notice because of the smell of blood. But nothing mattered to him in that moment. Nothing - except for the man on top of the giant toad.

"Iruka!" A ninja called him catching up with him with an injured man on his back. "Do you know what the Hokage's plan is?"

"He wants to seal the fox away…for good," Iruka told him glancing to Kakashi whose arm he still held as if to make sure that he wouldn't run away.

"And how is he going to do that, when he is not at the battlefield?" the ninja asked confused.

That comment was enough to get Kakashi's attention.

"Where do you have your eyes? Minato-sensei is right there," the Copy Ninja looked at the figure on Gama's head.

But the ninja only shook his head: "That's not possible because when Gama appeared here I saw the Hokage running through the forest at top speed as if he tracked someone down."

Kakashi came to a sudden stop, which caused Iruka to stop as well. The ninja also slowed down.

"What is it, Kakashi? We have to get away from here. Come on!" Iruka urged him.

"Was there a pink haired girl with him?" Kakashi asked - suddenly his face turning pale.

"What?" the ninja asked perplex.

"Was. There. A. Pink. Haired. Girl. With. Him!" Kakashi's voice got louder with each single word.

"No," the ninja answered honestly.

Suddenly they felt a huge impact. When they turned around, they saw Gamabunta jumping towards the nine-tailed fox, while the beast prepared for an attack against him. But the most shocking thing was the amount of chakra, which the person on top of Gama gathered at that moment, and Kakashi knew this chakra too well.

_No! Please, that can't be true! Let this be a nightmare! Please! Not her!_

"Fuin no jutsu!" Sakura shouted as she gathered all of her chakra.

The Kyuubi growled and a strong shockwave hit Gamabunta when he drew his sword and attacked the fox. This made the attack a lot weaker than it was supposed to be, but still effective.

"Everything alright, Gama?" Sakura shouted.

"Don't worry about me! Concentrate on sealing that damn fox away! Let me take care of the rest!" the toad told her trying to hold the demon fox there where he was. Gama's sword was between the fox's teeth and was about to break.

"Don't worry! I am going to end this now and forever!" Sakura grinned with narrowed eyes.

Behind the demon, a huge dark shadow appeared and slowly crept over his body and slowly enwrapped it. The more the Kyuubi fought against the jutsu the more Sakura noticed how much of her chakra she had already used. She knew she wouldn't live much longer. When the dark shadow arrived at the demon's jaw, where he was connected with Gamabunta, Sakura screamed - pain running through her body.

"Gama!"

That was the signal and the toad understood immediately. With one quick movement, he jumped a little backwards releasing his sword and the black shadow enwrapped the demon completely before the fox was able to growl for a last time. The second when the shadow was completely around him, there was only one thing left for Sakura to do.

"Seal!" she whispered painfully, made a last sign with her hands and then the black shadow was sucked into Sakura's body until there was nothing of it left.

She smiled panting. It was over. Nothing of that creature was left and the village was safe for now. Sakura noticed the silence surrounding her. She noticed that the rest of her chakra was already too low to make it much longer. Her life was at its end.

"Sakura!" she heard a voice calling her. No. Not any voice. She would recognize this voice everywhere and at any time.

"Kakashi," she breathed out dropping to her knees.

_Ba-thump._

This was it. Sakura fell forward, slid forward, and fell down off Gama's head. Kakashi was there in an instant and captured her in the air. Landing softly on the grass he hunkered down with her in his arms.

"Sakura," he whispered feeling a lump in his throat. He looked in her eyes, which were half closed. It seemed as if she was about to fall asleep.

"Kakashi, I'm completely worn out," she tried to smile, but failed terribly.

"Why?" his voice broke down and he had to start again after swallowing this lump in his throat away. "Why have you done this?"

Sakura raised her hand to touch his cheek, but she didn't have enough strength left to lift her arm. Instead, she touched his arm, which was around her waist to stabilize her.

"I did this for Konoha, Kakashi. And for you. If it hadn't been me, it would have been Minato, who would have sealed the fox away. But you need your sensei, Kakashi. And Konoha needs his Hokage. … And Naruto needs his father," she smiled as she remembered her clumsy friend.

He hurt. He hurt so very much. The darkness was getting more overwhelming and was about to take his one and only love from him. He couldn't hold back his tears anymore. As he shed tears for the dying girl in his arms, he didn't even try to get his sobs under control.

"What about me, Sakura? What about me needing you in my life? I need you more than anything!"

Although Sakura had trouble to understand him, she could understand the message of his words.

"But I am in your life, Kakashi," she smiled ruefully also crying silently.

"You won't be there," he told her placing his forehead to hers.

"Yes, I will. Let's meet again, Kakashi. In twelve years in the Academy in team 7. That's where we will meet again. And from there we'll start over, I promise," she lifted her chin up a bit and placed a kiss on his lips.

He also kissed her still crying, but when her lips were gone from his, he didn't even have to open his eyes again. He knew that she was gone. For good.

He could feel the rest of her warmth leaving her body.

He straightened up pulling her upper body with him until her head was against his chest and his cheek against the top of her head. His sobs and cries could be heard throughout the forest, he was sure of it, but it didn't matter. His love - his heart was chopped out of his chest and was never to return. Never.

Kakashi felt some hands on his back and his shoulder. His friends, who had probably seen the scene just now, tried to comfort him silently, but it didn't work. There was no comfort for him. At that moment, he shed all the tears his broken heart could afford.

This world became a dark, cold place and Kakashi didn't want to be part of it any longer. Everything was meaningless without Sakura.

"Kakashi," a low voice said behind him.

Minato stood behind him. He was totally covered in blood - his own as well as his enemy's blood.

"You have to believe Sakura. You'll meet her again, I guarantee it," he told him calmly.

"How? She is dead," Kakashi's eyes were dry again, but his voice shaky.

"No, she is alive and very healthy. You know, there are many things we have to talk about, my son. Take Sakura with you and follow me back to the village," Minato helped him to stand up and walked towards Konoha with every ninja following him.

The battle for Konoha's safety was over. Many ninjas lost their life that night and their names would be craved in the memorial stone forever, but one name would be the most important one. The name of the heroine who sacrificed herself to guarantee a better future for Konoha and its villagers. The heroine who turned back time and changed everything into something better. And her name was Sakura.

_**Twelve years later**_

"I hope you didn't lie to me, Hokage-sama," the Copy Ninja said with a low voice.

"Go and see for yourself. She is already at the academy," Minato told him with a cheeky grin.

Both of them were in the Hokage office discussing the details about his new team, which Kakashi was already due to meet. But before he made his way to the academy, he had to make sure that this was not some sick joke after all. His heart wouldn't survive any more disappointment.

But today was the day, when Kakashi was finally able to meet his love again. He would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous. His heart practically tried to jump out his chest, when he entered the academy and walked towards the door, where his new team waited for him.

The moment he opened the door, he entered the classroom and was about to say something, but then it was already too late. He was thrown backwards, right out of the door that he just entered. When he opened his eyes again, he looked in green eyes…familiar green eyes.

"Kakashi! I missed you so much!" Before he could react to the tears, which went down her cheeks, he was shocked to feel her tiny lips on his masked ones. This feeling was also very familiar to him. There had been only one girl in his life that made him feel this way while they shared a kiss.

When the girl with the pink hair removed her lips and stared down at him, he asked hoarsely and with glistening eyes.

"Sakura?"

_**Six years later**_

"I am really happy that everything went the way I wanted. Due to Minato, there have not been any problems with the Uchiha Clan since he killed Madara. And because the Uchiha Clan is still alive, Orochimaru has no chance in trying to get Sasuke-kun and Sasuke-kun is not obsessed with revenge and therefore not obsessed to destroy Konoha. And because Jiraya brought Nagato, Konan and Yahiko to Konoha there is no threat at all coming from them. And Akatsuki doesn't exist either," Sakura was smiling proudly.

Kakashi wrapped his arms around Sakura more tightly and exhaled deeply. Both of them were sitting on top of the rock wall, which showed the Hokage faces and were watching the sunset.

"Really, Sakura. Way to kill the mood," he teased.

"Sorry Kakashi. I know that you don't know anything of the events, which could have happened or had happened in the past or will happen in the future…this is still so confusing. Anyway, I am just happy that everything is so peaceful," she smiled happily.

"And I am happy that you had remembered everything as soon as you got your chakra under control. Imagine I had to make you fall in love with me again…you would have possibly thought of me as a pedophile trying to seduce a girl," he kissed her temple through his mask.

"I am also happy about that. Maybe we wouldn't have come together again if I hadn't remembered at all," she shuddered.

"And because I want us to never separate again I want you to marry me, Sakura," Kakashi blurted out.

Sakura gasped.

"Promise me to never leave me again, and I will promise you that I won't ever leave you in return. I have already lost you once and I am not willing to let this happen a second time, so please Sakura, let me be by your side for the rest of our lives," Sakura could feel his shaking hands around hers.

He was serious.

"I have no intention of spending the rest of my life without you, Kakashi," she smiled as she cried tears of joy.

"Does this mean 'yes'?" he asked uncertain.

But instead of answering him, she kissed him tenderly through his mask, sealing their promise, as the last sunlight disappeared at the horizon.

And that is where the story of the brave kunoichi, who could finally complete her thought, which she had back then before she was sent through time, ends.

_If I could turn back time, I would change nothing now._


End file.
